


The Dreamtime

by Anetto



Series: Empire Rising [1]
Category: Empire of the Sun
Genre: Blood, Coma, Gen, Hallucinations, Harm to Children, Hospitalization, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Imprisonment, Non-Graphic Violence, Psychological Torture, Sexual Humor, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 15:10:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6709918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anetto/pseuds/Anetto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore think it's all just a publicity move. The Empire of the Sun never existed. They're just a couple of 21st Century Glam Rockers.</p><p>...Right?</p><p>But, when Luke begins hallucinating strange glowing pyramids, a chain reaction is set in motion that challenges everything they believe about the world and themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Walking On A Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Empire of the Sun is property of Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore and The Sleepy Jackson Pty Ltd.
> 
> The following work is fiction. I do not claim any ownership over them and this is in no way related to Empire of the Sun or its production company or anything else. This is just a bit of bandfic and wishful thinking.

*-*-*-*-*  
Once, the world was pure. It was the Emperor and the Prophet who kept it thus. Each day, they charted the sun’s course across the sky, guided rivers down from mountain peaks, and brought rains to quench raging fires.  
With the aid of their four priests, who possessed spirits of wild animals, they travelled the world tirelessly, maintaining nature’s delicate balance, allowing all things to grow and flourish -- always with the aid of the sacred jewel held atop the Emperor’s crown...

But one night, as the Emperor slumbered, recovering from his labors, true darkness appeared. The King of Shadows, ever the bitter foe of the Empire, and all it had achieved, crept into their temple. Craving the Emperor’s power, he stole the jewel from his crown-- and in an instant the world was changed.

Robbed of the bulk of his power, the Emperor and the Prophet watched helplessly as their temple was torn asunder, and their priests cast far out into the world.

But even in that moment, when all appeared lost, there was one thing that the King of Shadows' black heart simply could not have imagined... The Emperor and the Prophet have never abandoned hope.

\- By Nick Littlemore, The Story of the Empire of the Sun.

*-*-*-*-*

In our world, the "Emperor" woke up and came out of his bedroom in his pajamas. A loud yawn escaped his mouth. As he began his quest for the magical coffee maker, the source of the powerful potion that would awaken him from his slumber, he passed his princess Solora, who now just two gleefully smashed her fingers on a toy meowing keyboard on the kitchen floor. She stopped to get up and hug him good morning.

The Empress Dolphin was in the kitchen offering him a drink in his cup. “Morning, Luke," she smiled, as she kissed him, ruffled up his already messy bed head of bright blond hair. No doubt, she'd been up much longer than he had.

The Emperor in this world lived in Sydney, Australia. It was a magical, but deadly place and he was a normal, everyday, human man. He had a house, that was comfortable, bright and sunny near the seaside, There were people small and tall who loved him. He was blessed with the gifts of beauty and luck. So great was his luck; that he had a music career that was not too big and not too small.

He was also given the greatest gift of all: the gift of love from a woman, beautiful in both heart and body. She had hair that was as bright as the sun. She was his shining jewel. Her name was Dolphin, for the day she was born, dolphins appeared outside the birthing room window as if to celebrate her birth.

"Morning..." he mumbled with a smile, as he rubbed the sleep from his green eyes. She hugged him as she held her phone in front of him.

"Guess who's getting good reviews for his warm up show last night, and guess what else?"

He peeked his eyes from behind his fingers. The one-night-only concert at the massive new Delta Bay centre's music series was going to be huge bigger than Luke ever played before. He didn't expect it to sell out this quick he wasn't even top of the bill.

"Sold out?" he asked, taking the phone in his hand and reading the article.

She stroked his peach fuzz cheek. "Fifteen minutes, and it was sold out this morning. You are a rising star, Mr. Luke Steele."

He looked at her and said, "I hope this doesn't put a damper on your Lindsey Buckingham interview?"

Dolphin took her phone away from him "No, it won’t. It will get me some unwanted attention at the office." She got her bag ready as she finished her breakfast. "I had to put your tour poster away because people kept asking me about you."

“Oh, I would have bragged: tell them how I snore, make you clean the floors, naked, with my feet on your back, while I eat a sandwich and watch crap telly."

"Speaking of which, I packed you a lunch." She then placed in front of him a sack lunch. “Oh, when you drop off our Solora at daycare, please, would you mind paying them for me? The wire didn't go though."

He looked inside the sack and said, “Sure."

He then realized. “Wait, why me?" he asked.

Dolphin put her bag on her shoulder. "I'm taking the train south, her nursery is east where you're driving, and because I'm late for the train," She kissed him again “Also, can you get her to take that tiara off her head? She's worn it since she got it."

It was a princess tiara that she got as a favor at a birthday party she was invited to. It was flared out, like one of his crowns he wore in his concerts, so, like as not, she was just imitating him.

"I'll try." He knew one thing about his daughter: if she got something, she wore it out.

He drank a long sip of the coffee, then looked at his daughter, Solora, who was now sitting next to him at the kitchen table, her face a mess."You're not going to take that crown off, are you?"

She shook her head. "No!"

He finished his cup of coffee and went to the sink, gazing outside as he cleaned his mug. Luke looked at his reflection in the window and, for a brief moment, he swore he saw something with pyramid-shaped arms. He needed a holiday, or his eyes checked, or something.

At the day care centre, he held Solora in his arms, getting her out of the car.

"I'm the princess!" She declared as she ran to the door to open it.

"Hold up," he caught up.

At the check-in counter, a 20-something woman stood there answering the phone "Welcome to Roo’s Nursery Centre, where your Joey is our priority, yeah, can you hold on, please?" She looked at Luke. "Yes?"

“Yeah, Steele family. We owe you for this month," he took out of his wallet his bank card and handed it to her “Here. Sorry for the wire not going through, mind doing me a favor, and getting that tiara off her, please?"

"We'll try," she answered as she took the card and let Solora in to the play area where she stood in the middle, looked around, then ran back and hugged Luke's legs.

He knelt down and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Bradly's not here!" she whimpered.

He looked around, "You sure?"

"His parents pulled him, last week. They moved to London," said the caretaker.

He knelt down and looked her in the face a sympathetic frown "Oh, is that why you've been wearing that crown? ‘Cause you wanted to show Bradly?"

She nodded, her little heart breaking with tears coming down her cheeks.

Luke carried her into the place, letting her cry. He sat down in the window seat and said to her. "Ya know what I think? Bradly would have loved it," He wiped her tears away, "I also think it looks lovely on you." He smiled.

She got up and looked at him, then hugged him suddenly and ran off to play again.

As he walked out the caretaker gave him the receipt "Hey, by the way, mate, mind being a little interactive with the audience?" She handed the paper to him. “Felt like I was just sittin’ there."

He took it, shooting her an annoyed look. "I'll add it to the notes."

*

Later, at the music studio, Nick Littlemore stood at the end of the studio in front of a mural of the words, "The song is ended, but the melody lingers on," in a lush tropical jungle, that was as wild and untamed as his brown hair. He stood, stock still, eyes closed. Then, he inhaled, lifted his arms over his head and he put his hands together, lowering them, as if to pray, and exhaled. Focused on the wall of keyboards in front of him, he then made a mad dash, launched himself in the air, hands spread open like a tiger about to pounce on his kill. He missed the large bank of keyboards with his fingers by a few centimeters, hitting the floor face first, just as Luke got in.

"Getting a running start this morning, man?" Luke asked as he took off his leather coat and hung it up.

Nick suddenly did a snake pose and, reaching his finger to his lips to silence his friend, he carefully pressed that same finger down on the keyboard. It made a pleasant whine echo in the room. "Write that down! That is the greatest note of music ever played." Nick turned around and jumped up loosening himself up to shadow box. Then saw Luke, his face sullen.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Luke opened the guitar case and started to set up. "I'm a boring person, am I? I go home to the love of my life and my child, barbie on Sunday, then get up on Monday and do it all over again. No conflicts too hard, no bad hardships, no nothing." Luke then sat down on the sofa and tuned the guitar. "I'm Mr. Quiet Suburbia."

Nick tapped his fingers on the table rhythmically in a sequence that would have made their drummer quit. "You think you have it bad?" Nick asked, not believing this "You get a bread-less chicken sandwich between two pieces of organic homegrown leaf lettuce with a fresh tomato and organic honey mustard and a banana." Nick picked up his brown paper bag. "Here is the lunch my girlfriend gave me after we fought over who’s going to take out the garbage this morning." He opened his own paper sack and inside was a Chinese takeaway menu and ten dollars. He held up the ten dollars in his hand. Written on it was "Have a good lunch, ya piss pot of shit!"

"Why on earth do you stay with her?" Luke asked. Nick's girlfriend, Lilly, had a temper that would rival that of any aggressive communist nation's leader. She once threw his keyboards out the window because he forgot to pick her up from the airport when she came back from her yoga seminar in New Delhi. Then again, Nick wasn't always fully dressed, fully sober or fully thinking things throughly before he acted, and mainly because of the first two factors. He always had to have some skin showing, or bare feet. There was a rumor at one point going around, that he was raised by dingos until he was discovered by a couple who adopted him. The way he could curl up and sleep anywhere really made Luke wonder if there was some truth to the rumor. It was either that, or he had an undiscovered from of ADHD.

Nick brushed it off. "I've been with her for five years, so there's no point," smiled to himself, and added, "Honestly, because she does that thing with her lips down there, I mean it's good… Real good." Nick started to get flushed. "You can't buy that, I've tried.” He clapped his hands "Okay, you my friend have it better than any musician, you get the best of both worlds. You can be a normal man. Normal, everyday man who pops down to the grocery store and gets milk and nappys and no one cares. But, when you put on your costume, you are a GOD." He played the keyboard briefly and sang, "Woo!" and held his hands up in the air.

Luke kept setting up, not giving a care, still full of worries.

Nick lowered his arms in disappointment, he whined, “Oh, Christ, you're not worried about this concert, are you?"

Luke got his guitar out of the case. "Sold out within 15 minutes," He took a deep breath and glanced up at Nick. "That means something."

“Yeah, better venues, bigger pay checks. Finally, what we worked hard for is paying off," Nick held his friend's shoulders. "Don't panic man! I'll be up there with you, dancing like a twit like I normally do."

Luke nodded and took a deep breath. “Alright."

Nick nodded with him "Let's have some fun with the tech. He's been doing nothing but sitting in there, like he owns the place."

"He does," Luke replied.

Nick looked at him with a sly grin, “--and we question his authority..."

*

That night, as Luke slept, he saw himself asleep in a stone decorated temple. His head resting on a soft pillow, and, around his bed, was fine, sheer fabric. Nick was holding... The crown, his eyes closed, with the priests all around him. All five were in a deep meditative sleep. His eyes opened, and when he saw a king in a crown like his, his face shadowed by the darkness, he reached his hand out to fire a blast of magic at him. It failed.

"You're not as strong now, are you, Emperor?"

The world was flung into chaos. The priests and Nick were unconscious. The crown, gone. The temple, being destroyed by evil. The Emperor looked on in horror. "What have you done?"

"It is mine, now," a smile of the darkest evil appeared on it's face, "Emperor Steele."

Luke sat up and looked around the darkened bedroom. Dolphin was still asleep in her side of the bed. Softly, he walked down the hall to his daughter's room and saw her asleep. He then moved to sit in the living room, calming himself down. "It's a bad dream, I just had a bad dream."

From then on, there were moments he felt disconnected from the world, as if he was falling. Standing up, he fell back down on his seat sometimes. Then he started to see red triangles they were in the corners of his eyes. He saw them and he felt dizzy and ill. Then, he had to sit down.

There was so much to do in the days ahead, but, with the dreams and the visions, he was getting distracted. He started to hear voices and noises, seeing more of the red triangles in his everyday life.

Luke convinced himself it was just his nerves. As the date approached, it became something more than his nerves. He started to have panic attacks and they came on without any warning. His chest would just hurt he felt like he was falling then he would And, as always, he saw triangular red shapes in the corner of his eyes.

It started to really affect him and he didn't sleep well at all because that same dream would haunt him.

*

Just a week before the concert, he woke up one morning after another fitful night, with the screams of people echoing in the distance as he woke up. He quickly turned on the tv to hear something besides the screaming.

He looked at his face in the mirror, his eyes bagging and dark, bruised with anxiety, his skin pale. He looked haggard. When he came down to breakfast, he kept looking in the refrigerator but he couldn't find a thing nothing appealed to him. He hadn't eaten since yesterday and now he had no appetite at all.

Dolphin held his shoulders. "Why don't you have a seat? I'll make you something special."

He sat down, a cup of coffee in his hands as he looked out into the over cast morning. He stared down at his coffee to keep his vision from seeing another red triangle, he looked up his nerves rattling. The sound of the meowing keyboard making it worse with each meow.

Finally, he lost it. "Would you stop playing that keyboard!" he yelled across the room to Solora, who stopped.

“Luke, what is wrong with you?" Dolphin asked, “You haven’t been acting like yourself."

"Maybe you should stay out of it," he snapped.

Dolphin looked at him. "In case you forgot, this makes me in it," she held up her hand with her wedding ring, then, pointed to the garden door. “Now, go calm yourself down!"

Luke, in a huff, opened the door to the garden and slammed the door shut. Those triangles appeared. His head spun. His chest hurt, he wanted relief and he wanted it now.

*

Rehearsal, the day before the show, was a disaster. He wasn't standing straight, he missed notes, wasn't hitting the right notes, was playing the wrong song at the right time, not getting the right pedals to function at the right time. Dolphin had had enough. She got up from her seat in the stands, and went, "Give us a few minutes,"

Dolphin stood up to him. “Luke, I know you're scared, but you gotta get your head in the game. Look at yourself, you're not you're not as animated as you were. Maybe you shouldn't do this show. Postpone it."

“No, I can’t, I gotta do it. I can't afford to be sick right now," he whimpered, trying to focus.

Dolphin looked in his eyes, so unsure, so exhausted, “Luke, I don't want you to burn out."

"No, no, I can do it."

"If you think you can..."

He nodded quickly and she squeezed his hands reassuringly. "I can," he hugged her.

She held him tightly, then at arm’s length, and said, "Why don't you take fifteen, get a drink of water, alright?"

"Okay," he nodded.

When rehearsal was over, he stayed behind. He wanted to clear his head first. They were all going to go for sushi that night. He was just driving down the road, head clear, attitude better, when he heard a voice whisper, just whisper not even audible what they said. Then, a triangle of red in his rearview mirror.

He pulled over and sat there, trying to control his emotions. He beat on the steering wheel and, shaking, he cried, "I don't want to be like this, please." he looked up at the dark sky and cried, “Please, make it stop." He looked down to the shore and saw a spinning pyramid in the water, turning, pulsating a deep dark red. He got out of the ute and walked onto the beach towards it. It was almost beckoning to him to touch it. Thinking if he touched it would stop all of his emotional highs and lows. His hand tried to reach it. He touched it, and, in a flash, he woke up, as if he fell asleep in the car, he heard a car door slam. It was Dolphin.

She came running as he opened the door and she hugged him. "I was calling you! What happened?"

"I needed a nap," he smiled "I was just tired."

*

The night of the concert, he was dressing for action. He looked at himself in the mirror, he was different. He didn't recognize who he was behind the makeup anymore. The triangles; they were behind him. He grabbed his hands, rubbing them as he waited. His heart started to pound. He bent over, trying to calm down. He folded over, the pain in his chest getting worse now. He sat up, and with a few deep breaths he was ready. "Just fight it," he smiled into the mirror, “It's just your brain, playing tricks."

Dolphin stood in the doorway, smiling as she came over to him. It was their tradition, their moment together. He felt her hands on his shoulders. “Calm. Relax. It's just a show, you have done them hundreds of times.”

Dolphin took the crown out of the case and stood behind him with the crown over his head. "I crown you my emperor." She then lowered it into place on his head. They stood posed together a moment before she gave him to the world. He held her hands on his beating chest. It seemed to calm him. He felt powerful now. He looked down at their clasped fingers. She smiled a hopeful smile. "Whatever happens to you tonight, I will be at your side, always."

He stood up, kissed her and said, "Thank you," a small smile escaped his lips. He held her hand as he walked down the corridor. She squeezed his hand as behind him filed in Nick who, before he entered from his dressing room doorway, bowed with praying hands.

The dancers followed behind him in two by two formation. The band came next. Luke felt like this was a procession to their destiny.

He got on the platform that would raise them to the stage with Nick who stood close beside him. The safety bar raised and locked behind them Nick looked at him, worried. Luke was tense, his face still focused as best as he could. He put the monitors in his ears. "You alright?" he asked.

Luke put his guitar on then he looked at Dolphin, smiling as he held her hand again, then looked forward. "I just need to fight it," as the music cued up. As he was raised to the stage slowly, he held onto her hand, watching her become smaller until they couldn't touch anymore.

It was just nerves. He was just scared, he didn't want to disappoint. and as soon as he got out there, he was going to be fine, he was going to be great. Just keep thinking of her—Dolphin, his empress.

He hit the stage, the crowd roaring, but as the show progressed, he started to feel weak, as if his body was too heavy. His breathing got harder and harder, until he couldn't hit the notes. The pyramids showed up again. He looked to the left and there they were, to the right, there it was. Luke looked up and saw something in the sky, a giant triangle of red appeared with a large glowing outline of an eye. His eyes widened. Then, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest. He grabbed it, holding himself. His breathing suddenly stopped. He heard someone, but his vision blurred and all other sounds went dead. All he heard was his heart beating. He felt his body falling and everything faded into nothing.

Nick started to notice something wasn't right. Then, Luke suddenly collapsed. Nick quickly caught him. He saw Luke's eyes closed, his skin turning pale as all color drained from it.

Dolphin pushed her way to Luke's side as Nick instinctively put his hand close to Luke's nose. There was no warmth. "He's not breathing! Get an ambulance, now!" he commanded the security detail.

Dolphin could only kneel there in shock as she held Luke's limp hand.

“Luke!?” Nick yelled “Luke!? Mate, wake up!" He shook him gently “Luke!?"

The medics took over, security moving Nick and Dolphin away so they could bring him back. All they could do was watch the scene unfolding "LUKE! FUCK NO!" Nick screamed.

"Luke, please," Dolphin cried, "Wake up!"


	2. Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke falls down the rabbit hole and Nick and Dolphin struggle to keep their lives together in the face of possible tragedy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following work is fiction. I do not claim any ownership over them and this is in no way related to Empire of the Sun or its production company or anything else.

He fell backwards into an abyss, a blank space of blackness. Yet, opening his eyes he saw in his vision, the outline of a woman, wearing a veil on her body as if it was the only thing on her. Luke heard a beautiful feminine voice whisper, "Emperor Steele. Find the Sunstar."

"What? With no clues to where it is?" He asked. A portal showed a beautiful jewel glowing brightly. It was being held in a strange, dark throne room with pyramid-shaped armed guards.

"Find the Sunstar, Emperor Steele, and find the truth."

Behind him he heard a voice whisper, “Luke." He turned and saw his reflection in a portal. He was wearing the blue and silver costume and the silver crown. Black make up over his eyes, inside a band of white. He was his own stage persona. But, on the other side of the portal, he heard voices.

The image shifted. He saw a waiting room with the band and dancers were, waiting with worried looks on their faces. Cups of coffee, biscuits, tea and bottles of water barley touched beside them. Nick, being held by an unmasked dancer, comforting him as she held his head on her shoulder. The woman looking up at Luke's wife as she came out of the private ICU room with a small group of doctors. She looked up, tears beginning to stream down her eyes as she held herself. Nick held her and hugged her as the band offered their comfort. She was talking, but he couldn't hear her voice.

He tried to bang on the portal desperate to get their attention but it just shimmered "NO! I'm here! I'm alive! Dolphin! Nick! Listen!” It dissolved away and so did he...

With a huge gasp as if coming out of water, Luke woke up, suddenly on a slab of stone in the middle of a deserted and ancient temple. He sat up, looked around, and tried to figure out where he was and how he got here. The last thing he knew, he knew he was on stage, performing the best gig of his life. Now, he was here, in some temple with the sun glaring in his face.

"Hello?" He asked "Dolphin? Nick?" He raised his voice, "ANYONE?" His voice echoed. There was nothing, but crumbling walls and tall columns that held up a tall celing.“Nick, this better not be one of your sick jokes, mate!" He looked at the carvings, and saw what looked like himself holding in his hands an orb. The crown was different. It looked like in a struggle a part of it was chipped away.

“Alright, this is getting weird," he stated "Even for me. Nick?" He called “Nick, you better not be here, mate!" He held the bridge of his nose. "What am I saying? You're probably at some pub laughing about this. 'Luke Steele, Musician, was found eaten alive by a dingo, because his best mate decided to wake him up in his old costume in the middle of the fuckin' outback on some movie set. All because he wanted to be daft.'"

Luke heard someone say, move a stone, but when he turned, there was nothing moving.  
His vision flashed brief scenes of woman in veils and the jewel. "Find!" it echoed, "Find it and find home!"

He didn't know what to do. He was given a task he didn't have any idea how to start. Luke left the temple and he walked out into the edge of the platform. The walls of the place, covered with pictures of a long, lost civilization. It looked Mayan to his untrained eyes. Did he die? Was this heaven? Or was he dreaming?

He took off the crown, momentarily, and looked at his reflection, trying to rub the make-up off on his face. Yet, it seemed it was tattooed on. Looking at the stairs before him. Putting the crown back on, he walked down the steps leading towards a forest floor. These were familiar. Very familiar.

When he reached the forest floor, he was still alone, no one here, just him alone in the wilderness. So, he kept walking, trekking on, regretting his choice in stage attire. Yes, it really was starting to look familiar. As if he was here before, but his mind was not registering it, like it was a dream.

He looked at a pile of stones laid around. He wondered what they would look like piled up. When he turned his back, the stones piled up into neat triangle. He turned around, and they fell down. He looked about; nothing there but stone.

Luke passed a tree that fell over. As he passed, the tree tilted back upright, re-rooting itself.

He looked back and saw the path was cleaned of debris. He looked ahead and, again, the path suddenly cleared in front of him.

“Right, that doesn't happen in the outback. Nick is still a dead man, but I am definitely not in the outback," he looked up to the sky "Alright, where is the old man? Pearly gates? I'm dead, obviously." No old man with pearly gates. No queue to get into Heaven. "Okay that didn't work, so this must be Hell. Oh damn it! Figures Hell would be the outback."

He traveled on until he heard a noise. He turned and saw nothing but a bird flying off, spooked. When he looked forward again, there was a boy wearing a tabard and trousers of purple with silver decorations. He said "Find the Sunstar, Emperor Steele, and leave. This isn't your kingdom, yet."

He cocked his eyebrows, baffled. "What?"

The boy ran off, hurrying down the path.

Luke ran after him. “Hey, come back here!"

Not paying attention to his feet, he tripped on a vine. Something grabbed his legs and he was dragged to a huge plant with a huge maw of fangs for a mouth. Luke tried to grab onto the jungle floor, finally having to hang on to the root of a tree. The fangs smashed and roared, as it struggled and grabbed more of him. He got his arms around the root, clinging desperately, thrashing against the plant’s clutches. One arm let go and, somehow, he shot a ball of light that obliterated the plant. Dropped to the ground, he got up and ran as fast as he could.

A few yards away, he tripped again and slid down a muddy slope. Luke tried to grab onto anything to stop his descent. He finally did, grabbing another root, before he hit a large rock in front of a cavern. He took a breath and leaned back against it. That was when he came face to face with something even worse than a man-eating plant. A snarling nasty beast with jaws like a goblin shark, nearly biting his arm off. He dodged and tried to outrun it but the beast with smelly, wet skin was slick and quick. Its catlike eyes followed his every move as Luke dodged massive trees, jumped over rocks as the creature, screaming with delight, chased him.

The chase came to an end when Luke spotted a cliff up ahead. He stopped short and looked over the edge into steep, then back at the fanged creature coming closer. Nothing for it. He jumped into the raging river below.

Despite the best efforts of the river, he came up again, gasping, and crawled to the bank. Flopping down onto the sand and pebbles, he caught his breath, glad he could still breathe. Hell, definitely Hell.

When he could, he went back to running, not even sure which way he was headed anymore. But, the exertion took its toll. He stopped behind some old statuary to rest and get his bearings. When he closed his eyes, the woman's voice and her words to him came to mind and as he turned around he saw a sculpture, draped with vines and overgrowth. Luke cautiously pulled away the vines to find an inscription of a forgotten language. This time, there was a full, undisturbed version of the carving. His face, his crown, a jewel set in the middle of the brow. He sat down on the ground and gazed at it, stunned.

“Well, I guess I find this ‘Sunstar' thing. Whatever the hell that is." He picked up and bounced a rock in his hand. “Man, now what?"

He was dead. Died on stage. Fitting he would die there, after the worst two weeks of his life. He could just see the news reports. He was going to miss everyone. He wasn't going to see Solora grow up and be a woman. He was going to miss out because he was dumb enough to not get himself checked out. Chest pains? Yup, heart attack. It could have been a brain clot. The pyramids were possibly the lack of oxygen to his brain and the eyes.

“Shit! I'm sorry, Dolphin!" He started to get upset, hoping she would be okay and that his family would be in a good place and threw the rock in frustration. But, when he opened his hand, it came back, hovering over his open palm. He threw it again, but it came back.

“Okay, rocks don't do that." He threw it again, repeating the process, over and over.

He looked over at a larger rock and pointed to it. It flew towards him in response, allowing him to catch it like a ball. A smile spread across his face, as he realized he had some powers in this world.

For the last half of a day, he practiced his “powers.” He slammed his fists into the dry ground, making billows of dust. He only had to think of it and bright pink light flowed from his hands and took down a row of trees. He made the logs pile up and balance. He made kung-fu sounds, like an excited little boy, as he made them fall. All he had to do was contemplate it, and objects would fall, levitate and throw themselves.

“Fuck yeah!" he yelled as his fists destroyed his surroundings, only to create and rebuild.

After all that horsing around, he used his new-found gifts to build a shelter out of the logs and stones. With the satisfaction of a blacksmith over a masterwork blade, he slammed his fist into his palm, sealing the magic.

Luke entered and lay down on a bed, made of leaves and brush. It wasn't all too comfortable, but it was a place to rest and a place to stay warm. He lazily made a fire with his fingers, and then snapped, letting the fire bank down. Eventually, he decided, he’d have to look for food.

*

Nick looked at Luke's costume, hanging up in the opened hospital wardrobe. The once-beautiful costume was now empty. He sighed, sadly remembering last night. Nick picked up the outfit and handed it to the costumer, who put it gingerly in a special garment bag, and the crown in the case. Nick looked at Dolphin as he sat backwards in the chair and put his hand on her shoulder giving a comforting squeeze. She looked up at him, eyes dull from a near-sleepless night.

Dolphin slept in the chair last night at her husband's bedside, laying her head beside his, holding onto her husband's limp hand, stroking his face, begging him to fight. She wasn't going to leave his side until she saw his eyes open, gently stroking his arm as he was kept alive by machines, tubes and wires. It hurt Nick seeing Luke in this stark white room. But, he knew it hurt Dolphin more.

Nick asked, "How is he?" Nick had just come back from going home to change.

The room was so white and clean that Luke's hair color coordinated with the pillow. His face was plain and pale with no make-up. Every indication that he was who he was, was gone except for a band on his wrist with his name on it. Dolphin held Luke's hand tighter. “He's stable, but for how long, they don't know."

There was a long silence between them before Dolphin spoke up. "This is my fault."

Nick turned to look at her. "Hmm?"

"I should have known something was wrong," said Dolphin, "He was so overwhelmed. I should have known. I should have gotten him help," she sobbed.

Nick tried to comfort her. "This wasn't your fault, this was no one's fault, don't take the blame."

“Then, what happened to him?" she cried, "Why did this happen? Was this it? A few short years, and then, two years with a baby and that was all?"

Nick hugged her close as she tried to remain strong. Hiding her tearful face on his shoulders. He hugged her tightly, soothing her as best as he could, fighting to keep his own sadness from showing. Nick's phone vibrated in his pocket with nothing but Lily, sending him voicemails, asking where he was ,and news stories about what happened last night. The same pictures, the same stock photo, the same horrific photo taken by a cell camera. The same call from Lily, demanding he come home. It used to have a special ring tone for when Luke called. He would give anything to hear that. He had to be strong for Dolphin now, and for his friend.

He held her forward. “Dolphin, luv, why don't you get a drink? Take a break, go walk a little, I'll stay with Luke."

She sat up and looked at Luke, then placed her forehead to his and kissed his lips, feeling the lone life-giving tube in his mouth. "I'll be right back," she promised with a stroke of her hand to his cheek.

Nick sat sadly beside him in her seat, his chin quivering.

Holding his knees under his chin, he said, "Don't leave Dolphin. She’s breaking up, inside." He put his face in his knees. "Fuckin’ hell, Luke, if I would have known you were this messed up..."

Dolphin sat in the park by the waterside and looked at the water, remembering the times she was with him at the ocean. All she could smell was his cologne. All she could feel were his hands and how he would hold her in moments like this. How she felt so loved. But the questions that press asked still lingered in her head.

"Were you at the concert?"

“Yes, I was in the audience."

"What is his prognosis?"

“Unstable. We don't know what caused his heart to stop beating.”

"Is this a publicity stunt?" asked another reporter.

Dolphin wanted to hit that one upside the head with their video camera. "I assure you: this is not a publicity stunt. What happened on stage, happened for real. That's my husband. My daughter's father is—right now—dying, and, without the help and support of the doctors and staff, my husband would be dead and you would be reporting about the death of the most beautiful man that ever lived."

She heard the giggle and squeal of a happy couple at the waterside, smiling, alive and together, so much in love. She kept wondering if those days were ending. The doctors were still unsure what happened to put him in a coma, a heart attack or he could have had a brain aneurysm and that, because of the lack of oxygen, there could have been brain damage. The longer he stayed in a coma, the less likely it was that he would wake up. So, right now, they were waiting and seeing, there was an MRI scheduled for this afternoon sometime and then a EEG test. Right now, it was just waiting, waiting to see what her future held. So far, it felt like there wasn't much of a future at all. So much she had to fight the urge to get into the water and swim away forever. She kept trying to think of why this happened. She had a thought that scared her. His moodiness, his tiredness. Christ, no, but it could have been a good possible lead.

*

Nick wasn’t much for prayer. But, maybe, now was a good time to start. Nick knelt beside Luke's hospital bed folded his hands and looked up. "Hi, God. It's me, Nick, your favorite sinner. I know I haven't seen or read your book since the day my girlfriend's family chased me out of the house, whacking me upside the head with it when I was at her Grandfather's funeral 'cause I got drunk and started hitting on his widow and accidentally got shrimp sauce on his body. Sorry about that. I just really love shrimp and those were the damn tastiest shrimp I ever had. Listen, if you could get my friend out of this, I promise to never drink six XXXX beers before a funeral, never, ever again. I might have a few during the eulogy… And, a bottle of wine at the cemetery. And, maybe, smoke a fat one on the way home, but I know you want sacrifice and not suffering, and that's the best I can do on short notice."

It was then that Dolphin came back with a doctor. "Nick, we need to talk to you."

He watched as the doctor and Dolphin stood over him.

Dolphin looked at the doctor who nodded at her. It was as if they rehearsed this. "Did Luke take any drugs?"

"No..." he said, sitting up.

“Anything at all?" she asked.

"No… What's all this?"

The doctor spoke up at last. "We have been trying to figure out the reasons for his condition. He tests negative for any thing on the toxicology report and if this is a new club drug that's been circulating, we need to know to save him and other people who are taking it."

"Luke would never do that," Nick leaned back in the chair, not believing what he was hearing.

The doctor reassured him. "We just want to help."

“NO, you want to demonize him, make this his fault." Nick got up in a huff.

Dolphin grabbed his arm, “Nick, stop it!"

He turned around and glared at her. “Dolphin, he wouldn't do that to himself. Christ, you should know better."

Nick pulled his arm free and walked out of the hospital, then started to run.

*

Luke found a small river full of fish jumping over small falls to spawn somewhere. All he had to do was put his hands in, and he caught one. He found an apple tree nearby and took a few of the sweetest apples he ever had. He stopped for a break and looked up at the sky, at the sun and the moon in the sky together. After a while, he saw something staring at him, a woman in wolf furs.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked.

"I am Wolf," said the fur-cloaked woman.

Suddenly, to his left, another woman showed up. "You are Steele," said the woman in pheasant feathers, "You seek the Sunstar?"

They then teleported and stood together on branches of a fallen tree. "We see the star," they said together.

He asked, “Then, where is it?"

The wolf girl's shoulders rose up, the pheasant girl's feathers shook and they looked at each other briefly. They vanished, then reappeared directly in front of him. "We see nothing," they said together.

"You said you saw it," he asked.

"We saw nothing," they said together.

He groaned and held his head up in the air. “Well, did you see it or what?" He looked back and they were gone.

He decided to stay in his hut for the night. This place was going to get creepy, he just knew it.

*

At the studio, Nick frantically looked for any idea of what could have caused Luke to black out. He looked for drugs. He looked for hidden bottles of vodka, big bottle of soda pop, any sign his friend was harming himself.

He pulled open battery cases, flinging the batteries, he pulled the lining out of the guitar case ripping it out with a vicious grunt. He flipped up the rug and pulled the cushions out of the sofa and unzipped them and pulled out their stuffing. He ripped open an amplifier's fabric then kicked it over. Smashed lamps and broke open headphones. He open the grand piano and slammed the lid back down. There was nothing. With a titanic tug, he opened the piano bench and threw the piano bench across the room, cracking the window between them and the sound booth. He broke microphone stands, ripped the acoustic foam off the wall, turned over keyboards, ripped the cords from the wall, threw a drum set around and, finally, when he had no further vent for his anger, he punched the wall, denting the drywall.

Guns, knives, bottles of glue, porn, needles, there was nothing! He threw down the file cabinet that was empty of any clues and slid down the wall with his back pressed against it. He sobbed, frustrated over finding nothing, kicking like a thwarted child. It was only when his tears had abated that he saw a leather coat on the overturned coat rack that had been left there the week before. He crawled over and inspected the coat and found a number. He called it. It was nothing but the recorded message of a disconnected number. With hope leaking from his heart like a sieve, he took the coat and wrapped it around himself.

Dolphin came into the studio and saw the mess with Nick sitting on the floor, still faced and looking out the window at the sky. "Nick! You're bleeding!" He looked up at her as if she was a stranger. Dolphin got the first aid kit from the break room and bandaged his hand. “It's okay," she hugged him, "I'm sorry about what was said. I want him back as much as you do." She hugged him close, his tears starting up again. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

*

It was dark then there was the sound of a huffing noise of someone running and the visIon of a man ahead of him running though a jungle. It went black, then back to the running again. They were in a panic, a hurry to go somewhere. They had to escape, move the capital, get more soldiers, get more help.

His men didn't make it. How could they? They were outnumbered, outfoxed and outarmed. The Emperor and the Prophet were running away through a dense jungle. They reached the edge and saw a field of tall grasses. The emperor was about to run straight into it. The Prophet grabbed his sleeves and stopped him. Silhouetted against the light of the green foliage, he looked into the orb in his hands. It glowed with an amber light. The Prophet glanced around, as they quietly made their way though the field.

Suddenly they were ambushed, the Emperor and Prophet were ensnared in a electrified netting, and no matter how hard they fought, there was no escape. The last thing he saw was the Prophet looking at him, tears in his eyes, sorry for what happened. He bowed his head in failure as they were prostrated on the ground. The Emperor reached his hand out to hold it and nodded as a dark clawed hand was placed over the prophet's face, covering his mouth as he was shocked again and the blackness took over.

He heard Nick crying as if he was there in the room. Luke woke up with tears in his eyes, "Nick?"

He sat up and searched around him for the source of the sound. All he saw, was the dark hut and the banked embers of the fire with the charred remains of the fish he caught. His coat, he used as a blanket and the crown laid beside him. He got up and wandered out to look at the stars. It was different. They weren't the constellations he knew. He saw two moons. He was all alone.

He missed someone, a woman, he missed a little girl, he missed a friend. Who was he dreaming about? Still gazing up, he sat heavily on the ground. The cold air chilled him as he cried. He was alone, scared and didn't know what to do to find this sunstar. Sunstar, he was the emperor he had to find it but why was he though? His mind was fading in and out. Who was he? Why was he crying? What was he doing here? The Sunstar, he had to find it.

As he cried, his tears fell to the earth and a delicate shoot sprouted there. It became the bud of a flower, growing quickly to bloom. From the depths of the blossom, came fireflies that danced and made shapes. They surrounded him and made on his head, a crown. Some, he could have follow the movements of his hands. He smiled, cheered for the moment.

Going back inside, he found the wolf woman, asleep beside his fire. She stirred and watched him as he came in.

"What magic is this?" she asked.

"It's fire," he told her, as he, with caution, approached fire to stoke it.

"It's warm," she smiled. She reached her hand out to the fire with long nail like claws at the end of her fingers. But, soon enough, she felt the flames and pulled away in shock. “...and hurts."

The flames died. Luke relit the hearth. "Of course, it's fire."

"Man can control fire?" she asked.

He took the one good fish off the spit and offered it to her, "Of course, we can."

She looked into his face. "I know, but I do not see how." She started to eat the fish, picking it apart with her sharp claws.

He remembered her now. She was one of the women who toyed with him in the forest when he was out fishing. They knew what the Sunstar was. "Can you see where the Sunstar is?” he asked, "Where is this Sunstar?"

"Sunstar among the pyramids. They come pointing and slaying; they are hunting and killing… Sacrificing." She glanced up at him from her food. "They took the Ram and left her dead on the shore."

"What a waste," Steele told her as he stared into the fire.

That was when the fire flared red and raged as Wolf showed her fangs. Her terrifying, sharp-toothed mouth smiled at him, as she growled, "Not a waste, I feasted on her."

He stood there, feeling no fear of the she-wolf.

"What makes you not afraid of death?" She asked, coming closer.

"Nothing," he said "I'm already dead."

She smelled him. "You are dead? You bear the smell of..." It was as if something changed, something she didn't expect. "You bear the smell..." She sniffed again, puzzled. "You smell of love?"

"I have a wife and child." That thought... It was as if something had awaken in him something he forgot about. He thought of them. He thought of Dolphin as she swam up to him as he came back from a few waves he surfed on. Their wedding day where they danced together, the day he heard the news he was going to be a father, of the day they moved into their house and the first dinner they had on top of boxes that Luke set out with candles and unfolded napkins as place mats. The day Solora started eating solid foods and got most of it on her face, of Solora's first taste of birthday cake and how her little eyes lit up. Him and Dolphin giving Solora a tickle attack on their bed the day she got out of her crib for the first time. He sat back down on the bed. "I need to get home and be with them. Wait," he realized "I'm alive?"

She got up, appearing to be almost disappointed, and said, "You are alive, you are not dead."

Luke smiled. "I'm alive...” He jumped to his feet and threw a fist in the air. “Yes, I'm ALIVE!" he cheered. "Whoa! I am ALIVE! Oh, man, I must have been abducted and this is some weird sort of alien planet or something! Wait! Where am I?" he asked her, "How do I get home? Tell me, please, how do I get home?"

She held his chin, saying, “Go. At day break. Follow the sun's path. Fate will guide you. Now, I will leave you.” Her form shifted into a real wolf and she padded softly away into the night. She looked back and then bolted away. Something scared her. Something that was starting to scare Luke even more.


	3. The Lost Empire Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Nick learn the truth of their bizarre destiny, and Dolphin has to make a hard choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following work is fiction. I do not claim any ownership over them and this is in no way related to Empire of the Sun or its production company or anything else.

The next morning, Luke left the hut, and walked toward the west. Eventually, he found a path through the woods. He followed it for a time, noting that it seemed to be the remnants of an old road, like the Romans made. Large stone blocks still patched along, though they were missing in vast chunks and, often, there was little more than a deer track left. He spotted flashes of brilliant birds and flowers, massive, jewel-like fruits and large butterflies with wings like stained glass. It was as if he’d stepped through the Wardrobe and found not a snowy wood and a faun, but Eden.

 

His dreaming was broken when he heard, overhead, a loud rush, like a fighter jet. It was headed back towards him, slowing down and drawing near. He ducked down into the brush, stepping off the path, in case it wasn't friendly. Luke watched as a large black pyramid, the size of a tugboat, landed on its side in a clearing. What quickly filed out were black humanoid beings, with long pyramids for arms. They stood stiffly like tin soldiers in a row as a woman in red, with one arm covered in a long pyramid, yelled at them like a Drill Sergeant. "Find Emperor Steele! He can't be too far now!"

 

Luke hid behind a large tree and tried to listen in.  

 

“The fact that the emperor has evaded us is quite irritating." Her pyramid arm began to spin like a top. She drove it into the ground, sending a wave of dark red light pulsing along the forest floor, killing every plant and insect it touched. 

 

Luke took his crown off and hid under the roots of a tree, praying there was nothing under here that wanted him dead, too. He laid as still as could be, as the soldiers menacingly inspected the ground, stabbing at it with their pyramid spiked arms, making the ground shake.  He noticed with a shock that his cape was still out there, draped over a low branch. He had to get it out of sight before they saw it. 

 

He slowly pulled it inside, but it caught on some leaves when their backs were turned. He gave it a tug, praying for enough time to pull it free and that the bush was sturdier than it looked, so it wouldn't make too much noise. After a moment, it slithered free with only a token rustle of dead leaves. Biting back a sigh of relief, he gathered it up to cover his mouth and nose to hide his breathing. As soon as they were gone, he got out, tied the cape around his waist to carry the crown and kept running, periodically watching for anything to come at him. Why were they after him? Bigger question: how did they know his name? 

 

All day, until sunset, he was searching for a place to go. There was no sign of people save the old ruined path. He could wait, but he dared not be caught outside after sundown. Finally, the forest began to thin and he saw civilization--a town--small village--any case it was food, a real bed, a shelter and, maybe, a clue as to where he was and what this Sunstar was.

 

The shock of his life came when he entered the gates. The market was busy, full of strange smells and sights of a stall market and electronic advertisements. People wearing what looked like cyberpunk Hindi clothing, relaxing or selling the last of their goods for the night.

 

Luke was starting to get weak. His vision blurred, just like before.

 

"The Emperor!” Someone cried. They all stopped what they were doing, things falling from shock-slackened hands and mouths. As he stumbled through the gates, as one, they knelt down and bowed. Holding their hands, up as if to pray to him, a wail of fear and grief rose up through the crowds.

 

“The Emperor!” 

 

“The Emperor is here!"

 

“He comes!"

 

"What have we done?" asked someone. 

 

"Nothing… I am in need of shelter, food and..." He held his hand to his heart. It hurt terribly, then he couldn't breathe. His chest seemed to be crushed, right before his body collapsed under him.

 

The people gathered around him, cringing and whispering. Just as suddenly, the throng parted as a man in strange goggles came to his side and placed against his lips a vial of green liquid. "Call the Viceroy!" 

 

Luke swallowed. It trickled down his throat, feeling thick like a milkshake. In between one labored breath and the next, he felt a shock to his chest.

 

 

*

 

 

The doctor held the paddles in his hands steady as he looked to see if it had any effect. Luke's heart rate started to flutter and then went back to a steady rhythm. 

Outside, Nick had led Dolphin out of the room, in case they decided to crack open his rib cage. Nick didn't want to see or for her to see it. After a few minutes, the doctors came out. "We are going to up the dose on the medication,” said one, “See if that keeps the heart regulated." 

 

Dolphin ran back in. Her gentle touch stroked some of his blond hair back. "Don't scare us like that again. Please. Please, wake up, sunshine."

 

While Dolphin was with the doctors, Nick sat beside Luke and looked him over, machines beeping and toning gently. The sunlight casting a warm, reassuring glow upon their friend as he lay in the Hospital ICU's bed. He looked so small. Luke—the way he was—he looked like a weak, helpless child Nick wanted to cradle in his arms.

 

"Why is this happening to us?" Nick asked. 

 

Resting his lips and chin on his tightly closed fists, Nick gazed at him, thinking, _What could be causing this? What is happening? What can't the doctors see that he can see?_  


 

"What did you do, Luke?" Nick begged, "What did you eat, what did you drink, what did you smoke, what did you snort?" he sniffled, "If you could just talk, tell me what's happening. What did you do?" he asked, close to crying. Then, whispering as he stroked Luke's hair back. "What did you do?" 

 

He looked up and saw Dolphin. She came out of a room with a doctor. She was hugging herself as a doctor mournfully held her shoulder. He said something and she nodded, holding her hand to her mouth. Quietly, she followed him away and disappeared down the hall.

 

Nick wanted to ask what was wrong but he didn't dare chase after her. He looked down again and realized what must have been said. 

 

Dolphin came back into the room later with a cup of green tea for Nick. 

 

Nick's hands were on the bed rail as he looked over the bed, deep in thought. She put her hand on his hand; it didn't need stitches, thank goodness, but he did need some comfort. He held her hand and asked her, “What'd they say?" 

 

She stroked his back. "They're going to wait and see.” He knew she didn't have the heart to tell him much more. 

 

 

*

 

 

Luke woke up in a sun-filled room. He lay stretched out in a four-poster bed, easily the size of two king sized beds. There was beautiful sheer bed curtains surrounding him. He was in a soft sleeping shift and found the finest robe he ever saw in his life beside him. He slipped it on to find it was the most comfortable garment he had ever felt. It was smoother than silk, as warm as a mother's soft embrace. The bed was high enough off the ground that he would have to use the small set of steps beside it to get down. Beyond the bed curtains, he saw a room, decorated with ornate fixtures and lights. Everything was made of what looked like white marble and, in the middle of the floor, was a outline of his crown, inlaid in the same. His clothes were freshly laundered and his shoes, armor and crown were shined.

 

He opened the curtains and saw a window overlooking a beautiful vast city. 

Getting to his feet, he could just see out the window.Some of the room’s walls, while looking like heavy stone and metal, were pushed back like sliding doors. There was a balcony beyond that looked out over it all, beckoning him to drink in the wonders.It was incredible. It was like looking into the future. Flying machines, elegant pyramid-shaped buildings and enormous, detailed murals, surrounded by lush greenery. It was all straight out of a dream. 

 

Someone had laid out a meal of sorts, wine and a side of something animal. Beef or venison, it was hard to tell. He took a cup of wine and a hunk of meat, but found himself too awed and restless to sit and eat. He needed to know more, like where he was and how he could get home. Knowing if he could come back, too, would be nice. Nick would have been gobsmacked. He left, wondering if there was a library. Everyone sounded like they spoke perfect English, maybe they wrote it as well.

 

The halls were huge, big enough to drive a bus down, with walls covered in a glittering stone that reflected light from the windows in rainbows. There were pillars capped in silver and gold, holding up the roof. He was so enchanted by it all, it took him moment to realize he wasn’t alone. Up ahead, in a stretch of open air, a garden was visible. From the leaves and brush, he heard the growl and a roar of a frustrated big cat, snarling and fighting. 

 

Luke headed towards it, vaguely aware that maybe approaching an angry predator was low on the list of “Ways to Die of Old Age.” As he got closer, he found the flowers were strange, alien things. It was easy to forget why he was there. The heady perfume of blossoms he’d never thought possible surrounded him, as each petal shivered. Then, he heard another panicked snarl, and knew why the flowers trembled.

 

There was a tiger, collared with a gold band, inlayed with jewels. The orange and black cat head was caught, along with his paw, in a tangle of arm-width, woody, vines that were growing along a wall. The tiger's yellow eyes fixed on him and he roared a warning.  _“Keep away,”_ he seemed to say, _“Leave me alone!”_  


He put the meat and the cup down on the bench. “Hey, it's okay,” he murmured, holding out his hand to be sniffed. Puzzled, the tiger grew silent and snuffled at his hand. Luke wondered how long the beast had been stuck. He seemed a bit thin. He was probably hungry, as well as embarrassed. Certainly, he was hungrier than Luke. He gave the tiger the meat and, while it was distracted by eating, he began to untangle the large cat. The vines, it seemed, were woven together in such a way as to act like a crude finger trap. The more the tiger fought and pulled, the more trapped he became. But, with patience, the vines were found to be flexible and easily manipulated. They could be pried apart, if one wasn’t afraid to get fingers that close to a tiger’s mouth. Gently, he worked his hands into the tight space between thick fur and vine, easing them back towards the wall and pushing outwards. The tiger shook his head as he slipped free and, as Luke stood up, he turned around and jumped up on his hind legs. Luke found himself bowled over as the big cat head-butted him, purring like an engine. He was getting his face licked in thanks for his kindness and almost couldn’t move for the weight and snuggling.

 

"Okay! Okay!" Luke giggles and patted its head “Hey, no problem, buddy," he smiled. He patted the tiger’s soft neck and began to walk away. But, the tiger walked with him, staying beside him like a loyal housecat. 

 

His walk led him through corridors just as dazzling as the last. He caught glimpses into rooms with more breathtaking views. But there were no shadows of movement, no voices, not even doors closing as he passed. Luke was starting to get worried. There was no one there. He didn't see a soul besides the tiger who followed him.

 

Finally, just as he was beginning to think everyone was dead, they turned into another hall and spotted a woman. She wore a long white and blue robe, more of a wrapping like a sari and leather sandals. Her skin was as dark and glowing as polished bronze and her hair was in long braids that reached down below her thighs, each one capped in silver. She was calling out in desperation. "Haria!" she cried, “Haria, where are you? Please, where are you?"

 

She spun around at the sound of footsteps. Seeing Luke, she fell on her knees and bowed in a panic, covering her face. “Emperor—Your Majesty—I am sorry! I am not to be seen by you! Please, forgive me!" She was in tears. 

 

He held his hands up. "Hey! Hey! Calm down!" He had her sit on a bench and gave her the glass of wine to ease her nerves. "What happened?"

 

"My son, he works with me—!" 

 

Luke was in shock. “Wait, he cleans this place with you?" he asked, "Why?"

 

"I cannot afford to put him in school," she sighed as she finished the cup, "I wish I was paid more, my lord Emperor."

 

"Let's find him first," he reassured her. 

 

The tiger let her pet him as Luke looked around. He tried to think of all the places his own child would hide when playing. Behind potted plants, under curtains and beds, the places a child could reach easily and fit into. He supposed it would help to know how old and how tall the kid was. Older, and the kid might be craftier. Taller, and he might climb or not fit into some places. He went into a room that seemed to be a storage place, from the boxes and baskets around. Most were too small and not stacked high enough for a child to hid behind or in. But, there was a cabinet. He put his ear to it and heard the muffled cries of a little boy. He saw what happened, like watching it on tv. The boy had locked himself inside by accident, when the latch fell onto the other cabinet door, trapping him inside. He opened it quickly and inside, was the boy, about four years old, with tears in his eyes.

 

“Hey. It's okay. You're not in trouble,” Luke held his hand out to him with a smile. "Are you Haria?" he asked.

 

The boy nodded and sniffled. Luke took his hands and helped him out. Holding him in his arms, he comforted him, wiping his tears away. “C’mon, Haria. Your mother is worried sick about you." 

 

He carried the child back to his mother who still was petting the tiger's head in her lap. She jumped to her feet the moment she saw them. "Haria!" She reached out for him, holding him close enough to smother in her arms. "Don't ever run off like that again." 

 

Luke decided to do the right thing, since it seemed he really was emperor here. He held the cup out to her and said, “Here, tell the person in charge of the servants they are to be paid enough that they won't need to bring their children to work. In fact, I order that all children be placed in school." 

 

She bowed, but the boy looked at him and said, "You are our emperor, aren’t you?" 

 

It was then he noticed that the boy looked like the one in the jungle. 

 

He left them, unnerved by all that had happened. But, he only stepped through another door when he came to a room where a single crystal was floating on a stand in the middle of the floor. Beyond it, was a throne-like seat of champagne golden crystal, covered in circular and spiraling patterns. Crystal points like the sun’s rays stood out behind it, gleaming with an eerie, bright blue luster in their hearts. He pitied the poor bastard who had to rule from it. It looked uncomfortable.

 

But, he wasn’t drawn to it. He felt called by the central crystal and approached it, curious as to the reason for it sitting here. His fingers brushed its cool surface, and it projected a screen of writings, scrolling to what he wanted to know. At least, he assumed so. He had one problem: he didn't know how to read the language. It was symbols like Japanese, but they swirled and danced. The pages were, at least, illustrated and animated and showed a beautiful jewel, secretly kept in a temple. The Sunstar, the source of power from the sun, gifted to those who could control it. 

 

"Your Imperial Majesty, I had hoped you would be awake.” Luke jumped and turned. A man in a long silver robe stood behind him, hands folded.

 

"Who are you?" Luke asked. 

 

"I am the Viceroy," he bowed as he spoke, "your humble servant."

 

"Where am I?" Luke asked. 

 

"You are where your kind were born." It was hard to see his face. The features were distorted and shifting. 

 

Luke stepped back in alarm. "Why can't I see your face?"

 

"You are not ready to see my face yet. When you are ready, you shall."  

 

He smiled, or seemed to. The only thing Luke could see was that his long beard was woven through with beads. "This is where your kind were originally born, and where we knew you would return to one day," he said, "We rebuilt this palace to be completed in time for your return. These are the descendants of the people who survived and relocated here to live and grow."

 

"Who are these pyramid men that were looking for me? I saw them in the woods."

 

"These are the destroyers, they are the ones who control the jewel that's your birthright." 

 

The book's pages became new scenes. "Many millennia ago, there was an empire, an empire before all others, a place of great beauty, knowledge and power. The royals who tended to it were well-loved and respected by the kings who ruled other parts of the empire for His Imperial Majesty. They met at the temple where your priests would recharge you. The animals and nature fed off of the sun and gave back your power. They were the most beautiful creatures in creation. You had a prophet, the high priest who spoke an unspoken language with you, he advised and guided you and lead his priests, who would act as guardians of the earth around you. Yet, the Empire, like all paradises, grew stagnant."

 

"The dream I had where I was sleeping alone…"

 

"That was your past life as the Emperor, the one given the sacred jewel. Your memories of that past are fickle, still."

 

"Memories?"

 

Luke remembered something from the dream. As the curtains billowed in the breeze and lifted, they revealed a beautiful woman who slept beside him in his protective arms. 

 

"That is your past. A life forgotten but now is surfacing as the Sunstar re energizes. You are safe for now, in your palace. Rest, learn, and, when you are ready, I will send you to retrieve your birthright."

 

Luke remembered more now, as if catching little pieces blown on the breeze. On a morning, long ago, magnificent bed curtains were pulled open and the bed's occupant was given a morning meal of exotic colorful fruits. After a being bathed in a ritual, his body was clothed in the finest garments known at that time by handmaidens of the finest caliber. They crowned him, then placed before him a hand fan of feathers. The guards opened the doors and there he was. He could see the man’s face—his own—the Emperor dressed in all his glory. He looked up and saw a beautiful woman, his empress. They joined hands and went out onto a balcony where the citizens cheered them. 

   

With a shake of his head, Luke came back to his senses. The viceroy was looking into a clear glass orb, reading something. "What happened?" he demanded, "Why am I here?"

 

"It began well before your past life was born..."

 

With a wave of his hands, the viceroy filled the room with images, illustrating what the viceroy told him. "Our people were explorers, traders and scholars. As soon as they could reach beyond the stars they were establishing colonies on other worlds. Many millennias ago, some of our people left this planet, Empuria, to establish a colony on another world. Soon, an empire grew. Once his palace was built, the emperor and the royal family moved the capital there, bringing the sacred jewel with them. That emperor was the first emperor on your world. We called it ‘Emtora', you call it 'Earth’.

 

"For many centuries the planet grew and we slowly took over the lands. Establishing the emperor's rule. Each generation building upon the last, growing and growing. It was there, that your past life's father became ruler. He was a brave man. He was powerful and noble, a valiant fighter. He used the sacred jewel wisely, not using it for harm, but to support and maintain. He built cities and protected the weak. 

 

"Yet, you were not the first in line for the throne, an older brother was. He was named Tiamonk. Tiamonk was a happy child. He grew up to become a strong warrior, kind and honest, but one day, things changed in him. He became angry, a tyrant with a thirst for blood, battle and power. Your father, concerned for Tiamonk's health and the well-being of the kingdom, had him sent back to the old palace to be cared for by doctors. When they said he was unfit for the throne, his position as crown prince was given to you. At the time, you were still in the womb. So when you were born, you were prepared for your masking." 

 

"Masking?" Luke asked. 

 

The Viceroy put his hands over Luke's eyes. “On your face, over your eyes, is a white and black mask. This mask is done in memory of the god of the sun who you are descended from." He opened his hands to show Luke's reflection in a nearby mirror. His eyes glowed against the black lines around his eyes. 

 

"The Sun God retrieved the Sunstar, when the Sun held all the power and would overheat the land. The Sun God looked to the Tiger, who told him how to paint his eyes like his to protect them from the sun's bright light as he flew up to the heavens and retrieved it."

 

He waved a hand and the scene changed, revealing a reenactment as he described it. "The ceremony is simple: first, you, as a newborn--no more than a month old, are given a drink of wine, blessed by the priests and Prophet. Then, in your drunken state, they quickly tattoo the mark on your face. When you awaken, your face is now marked, eyes permanently opened wide to the world. But, something went terribly wrong."

 

"What happened?"

 

"Your brother, envious of your rule, poisoned the ink. The Prophet saved you, but your eyes were forever changed by the treatment. They were now a glowing pale blue."

 

"Wait? You said ‘prophet'?"

 

"The prophet is the voice of the people. He is your link to nature. You both share an unspoken language. He is also your friend when there is no other being to turn to."

 

The viceroy continued. "Tiamonk was caught at the ceremony. He escaped to the portal used to go between planets and realms. But, before he could escape, your father fought him and, with his blade, he cut across his face. He was subdued and, when asked why he would harm an innocent infant his own flesh and blood, Tiamonk said he wanted his rightful place as ruler. Your father was so angry, he declared he would be King in the prisons of his homeworld and sent him back. He was meant to arrive here, at this Palace, but when the guards came to take him, he was gone. He had indeed become king. A king that lived in the shadows, who would haunt the family and the nightmares of the people. He disappeared from this palace and wasn’t heard from for the longest time. After all that, you were crowned emperor."

 

Luke interrupted at this point. "What about the Sunstar? What is this jewel I keep hearing about?” 

 

“It’s what makes you the Emperor. As the Emperor, you were charged with the maintaining of the world of Emtora. The sacred jewel gives the bearer his power." 

 

“So—Wait. The Shadows. Why did they want me?"

 

"They needed a way to quickly get into your world—a psychic door—to find the coordinates. They didn't account on you being a sentient portal that can close, as well as open, itself. This is why you are unconscious in your own realm. Your heart and brain are numb, but your body, the flesh, is still there. We gave you a photocell body. That way, you can exist in here as a living being. This is only a clone, but the moment they get wind of you, they will bring your halves together, making you a whole being again and opening the portal to your dimension.” 

 

The display changed to show the throne. Off to one side, behind a curtain, there was a large, raised disk with a control panel on a short pillar. "This will teleport you to the pyramids' realm when you are ready, but, it also will mean they will know where you are and begin the invasion. They will combine your body and your mind, thus you will reveal the way to your home planet.” 

 

He held his hands up and made them make a triangle. "This gesture will guide you to the Jewel. Once the Jewel is again in your possession, the great power you once had will return to you."

 

*

 

Dolphin fell asleep at Luke's bedside. She had placed some headphones in Luke's ears, so he heard some music instead of the hospital and tucked a stuffed toy lion that Solora gave her to give him into the crook of his arm. Nick covered her up with the hospital blanket, then quietly left the room. He closed the door and sat down on the cheap pleather seating with a cup of tea before he went to the hospital's rooftop garden.

 

Nick first looked over the rail of the rooftop looking at the skyline of Sydney. The world felt different tonight. It was as if something was on the horizon. He knew what it was, he thought. The end. The end of a long, happy friendship. There was no denying it. "Wait and see" meant there was nothing more they could do. 

 

Sitting in a lotus position on a bench, he closed his eyes and held his thumbs to his fingers, resting them on his knees. He had not been able to meditate for a while. Deep in his brain, he tried to calm himself. The incidents of the past few days were getting too heavy and he needed a break. He needed a chance to relax and focus. His chakras were probably all out of alignment. Letting the breeze ruffle his hair, he sighed and cleared his head. He reached deep within, finding somewhere he'd never reached before...

 

 

Luke went out onto the palace's balcony that night. A few moments before, he had been bathed by servants who thanked him over and over for his new rulings. Now, he looked over the city, aglow before him. He missed home, he missed his family. He missed his Dolphin the most. Lifting his hands before him, Luke held his fingers as he’d been shown and saw the energy flowing. It was like the disturbed signal on a tv screen, rippling and harsh. The triangle curved in deep waves until they pointed in one direction; up. Luke knew what he had to do now: Get the sunstar and get home. He sat down on the bench. He could use a laugh, he sighed to himself. 

 

“Nick, I wish you were here." 

 

 

Back on Earth, Nick heard his friend's voice... His eyes flew open.  _Luke?_  


 

 

Even in a far-off place and unknown time, Luke heard him. _Nick? Is that you?_  


 

 

Nick didn't seem to understand what was going on.  _Luke?_  

 

_Yes, it's me!_

 

Nick suddenly jumped up, smiling for the first time in days. Luke was alive.

 

_Luke, it's me. Where are you?_

  
_I'm in this alternate universe where those music videos we made somehow came to life! I gotta do battle with this Shadow King and stop them from invading the earth. Nick, please, tell Dolphin I love her!_ He stopped, stunned by a thought that wasn’t his own. _Wait, what?_  


 

_Yeah, we can read each other's brains. This is cool! Think of how much money we can save in cell calls._

Another thought. Clearer, more graphic. _Nick… The fuck is that?_  


_What?_

  
_OH GOD!_ Luke groaned, as he realized the torrid thoughts he had were actually Nick’s,  _THAT'S MY WIFE, YOU ASSHOLE!_  


Nick tried to clear his head when he heard, _My wife is not going to give you a "Tim Tam slam"! Oh, Christ! I will never be able to eat those biscuits again!_  


Nick waved his hands, as if to fan himself.  _Just get out of my subconscious!_  


_I'm trying… But, I keep getting reminders of why I should never let you near anything female with a pulse!_

Nick was rocking his head back and forth, trying to think of something serious, such as Luke being in the hospital the way he is now.

 

_Oh, for god's sake, Nick! I'm in a coma and already you were thinkin' about it… With the nurse, too!_

 

_I'm going though a lot of stress, mate!_

 

_I'm not the one who has the sexual response cycle of a cheetah!_

 

_Look, in case you forgot, Emperor Man-of-Steele, you got some baddies coming here, that want to take over the world and, you, Luke Skywalkersound, are our only hope. So what do I do? We need a plan!_

 

_Go get help! Call the Military. Tell them there’s an army forming and they are going to come for us._

 

_Okay, so I am supposed to just walk up to the local Australian Defence Force base and say, “Hey, guess what? My comatose friend is talking to me though my head?"_

Luke paused, but couldn’t think of any better ideas.  _Well, it's a start…_   _Oh shit, Dolphin! She’s—She's gotta know about this. She's been a mess since all this started._ _Go tell her I love her, but we gotta do something... Oh shit, speak an unspoken language, you must be the Prophet._  


 

_What do you mean the Prophet? That's just some marketing crap we came up with, because we wanted to tell a story._

 

_Nick, listen, this guy said that the person I link to is the Prophet! He was, in our past lives, my best friend. He had a closer relationship to nature than I did. Christ, the more I think about it, you are the Prophet._

 

Nick ran like a giddy fool to Dolphin and woke her up. "It's Luke! He's in my head, I can hear him. He's saying 'I love you' and he's coming home as soon as he can. He’s—He's gotta find this Sunstar jewel thing. He’s also telling me to tell you that… I'm getting to it! I'm getting to it!" 

 

Dolphin hadn't had a good night's sleep since the night of the ill-fated concert. She had been woken up by alarms, loud noises from staff and patients, lousy food, sleeping in an uncomfortable position, dealing with an upset toddler who begged to see her father and, possibly, the death of her husband. Her eyes turned angry, and she said, "Nikolai Littlemore, I know this is hard to accept, but you do not have the right to barge in here and start blabbering like a fool."

 

_Nick, tell her about the tea cup._

 

"What tea cup?"

 

"How do you know about the tea cup?" asked Dolphin.

 

Nick slowly repeated what Luke was telling her. "You both have a large tea cup in the garden. It was part of some gift hamper you got when you bought the house. But it's where you both leave messages for each other. It's upside down on the saucer, right next to the tree you both planted for Solora's placenta. Gross. Anyway one night, you both had a huge row over the fact he was more interested in work, and he wrote how he really felt. He was sorry for not being a good husband but he wanted to provide for you and Solora. He thought he was thinking the right way, but he got it all wrong, and he was going to think the right way from now on. He also promised to talk things out and not bottle it up.” 

 

She closed her eyes, tears flowing down her face. As she cried, her hand smacked him across the face. "Get out, Nick, get out and never come back, you stupid, fuckin’, madman! He's dead! They said, there was nothing they can do! He's dead!"

 

Luke heard what she said and held his hands to his mouth, shaking his head in disbelief. "No," he cried, "Dolphin!" His tears fell onto the stone edge of the building. With each drop, a flower bloomed. 

 

 

 

Nick left the room. He looked back for a moment and saw her collapsed inside the room on Luke's bed. 

 

_It didn't work, did it?_

 

_No._

 

_Get help, Nick. Save our world, as the Prophet. I'm coming!_

Luke grabbed the armor and clothes he’d arrived in and dressed, pulling on the gloves and bracers as he walked to the curtained-off portal. He had a mission now: to go get the Sunstar, and go home. For everyone’s sake, especially those he loved most. He had had enough of his sitting and waiting, of exploring this beautiful, but alien realm. It was time for action. 

 

He heard his old guide following at a run. "My lord, please! Wait!"

 

"I gotta go,” Luke said absently. 

 

“Listen to me, my lord,” the sage insisted, "they're waiting for you. They have been preparing for this day for millennia, watching for you. It's suicide! Please! This is madness! You don't understand!" 

 

"No, old man, you don't understand. I have a wife who thinks I'm dead, and she needs to know I'm alive! I'm the emperor, right? If I am the emperor you tell me I am," he pushed past the curtain, only to find a few servants cleaning the disk, "then it's time for me to get out and fight like one." He waved to the servants, too desperate for protocol. "Well… Turn this thing on. Time to let them know I'm here."

 

The old man sighed and bowed his head. “As you wish. May all the suns shine upon you, my lord.” He gestured to the touched a few glowing keys on a small pillar console.

 

The throne rotated to face the curtain, which parted to reveal the disk. He could feel a soft breeze flow past him and into its blinding depths. He stepped up and gazed into it, finding a strange maelstrom of colors and searing light. Then, sickeningly, Luke felt he was falling, face-first, towards it. Floor and ceiling seemed to mean nothing now. The swirling shades consumed him, then...

 

Oblivion.

                                                                                                                                                                  


	4. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Nick race to stop the invasion of Planet Earth and Luke finds himself face to face with the enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following work is fiction. I do not claim any ownership over them and this is in no way related to Empire of the Sun or its production company or anything else.

Dolphin sat in the hospital recliner, mentally planning her husband's funeral. It was the hardest news to hear. He was brain dead and the few doctors who had come by to talk to her said was no chance of him waking up ever again. She held his hand again and looked at his face, touching his forehead. If he didn't show any improvement by the end of the week, they were, on Saturday, going to pull the plug and let him go. She had already called her in-laws and told them the sad news. Luke’s father, had been quiet, stoic, even. His mother had asked Dolphin to pray with her for a miracle. At the time, she’d been quite numb, but now it hit her. Dolphin Steele was going to be a widow. Their daughter would be without a father and their whole world would be a little less brighter. Nick would be without his best friend. She'd tried to call say she was sorry, but there was no answer. She had chased him away, probably, at the moment when they both needed each other. 

 

Luke and Dolphin never talked about the end; they were always looking for tomorrow. Bright blue skies and greener grass had been the order of the day. But, what now? Would he have wanted a bural or cremation? Would he want an open or closed casket? What sort of flowers? Music? A church or a funeral home?

 

She heard the door open and looked up as Dr. Mekajiki entered the room. Dr. Mekajiki was one of the doctors who was overseeing Luke's care, apparently a top name in neurosurgery. She hadn’t been by since the first few hours he’d been there, discussing possible treatment and care. An unusual woman and an unusual doctor, she had a tattoo of a swordfish and a dragon, holding fin to claw and linking tails, swimming around her right wrist. Her hair was silver blonde and short, almost a crew cut, framing a very pointed face with soft, gentle eyes. "Mrs. Steele?"

 

"Yes?" Dolphin asked.

 

"I was just looking for you. I wanted to show you something."

 

She led Dolphin to her office. It was airy and bright, decorated with a mural of a coral reef, teeming with life. An empty desk, tidy and unfussy was furnished with three chairs, comfortable but sturdy. Lean and graceful, like the doctor herself. There was little else to indicate anything about the person who used this space. She lifted an iPad from a dock and pulled up a few MRI scans, showing them to Dolphin.  

 

She zoomed into a simulation of the front of his brain and rotated it carefully to show a strange dark bead. "We found in the brain, what looks like a clot or a tumor, but its too small to be one and not opaque enough to be the other. We need to do exploratory surgery; see if we can remove or repair what is there. If we can, your husband may regain consciousness." 

 

Dolphin looked up, feeling a hopeful smile start to bloom on her face. Just that much joy was an exhausting change. She was happy, but she was not well. She knew she was stressed out, but she didn’t have time to be worn out. She had a husband and child who needed her to be tough right now.

 

Mekajiki seemed to notice and looked concerned. "How are you feeling? You look like you're dehydrated and could use a good meal." 

 

"I just need my husband again, Doctor," she said, trying to stay optimistic.  

 

“You’ll have him back. Trust me," Dr. Mekajiki nodded her head, “You should take care of yourself and your friend, too. I saw him earlier. He looks as broken up as you do. I'm going to prescribe for you a walk around the courtyard. After that, get you and your friend some dinner. You both look like you could use a good meal, a couple big glasses of water, and a good night’s sleep." 

 

"Thank you," she smiled.  

 

"You can thank me by taking care of yourself. I want you to be as healthy and as happy as you can be, the day he sees you again." 

 

Dolphin nodded and, when the doctor left to the room again, she held her folded hands to her heart and kissed them as she prayed there was hope still left. "Please," she whispered, “Please, let this work." 

 

*

 

Luke woke up surrounded by glass. He was inside a chilly, coffin-like box. Feeling a little like Snow White, he tested the lid. It was locked. 

 

  
_Cute,_ he thought. Using the gauntlet on his arm, he lashed out as hard and fast as he could. The coffin shattered musically, dumping him to the ground. He rolled free of the shards and found himself staring at the door out. He got to his feet and dusted off  as he dashed for the exit.

 

But, of course, he wouldn’t be home free. There were guards, coming around the corner, in the same beetle-back-shiny black armor he’d seen in the jungle. He stepped back into the shadows of the room and let the door slide closed to a mere crack, waiting until they’d passed. Then, he followed, creeping behind them and marveling in the back of his mind at how silent he was. 

 

The Pyramid Realm was lit in dark red and eerie, smelling awful, like rotting garbage. Luke had to breathe through his teeth as he grabbed onto the side of a transport the guards were loading up on. The transport sailed off with nary a sound, save the clank of the doors closing. He held on for his life as it glided like a swan down a long tunnel and docked at a seemingly identical platform. Only here, there were more troops, crates and ships. He had essentially walked into the city with no problem. At least, he thought it was a city. Truthfully, he had no idea where he was or even how to leave, or if he wanted to, once he realized there was something tugging at him. He could feel a great longing pulling him along and only hoped it was the stone.

 

As he stood in the shadow of a pillar, he found that a complication had arisen: getting inside the citadel where the stone was guarded. He closed his eyes, willing himself to disappear totally, and made his way in. No sooner had he crossed the threshold, however, than he appeared. His steps were still as quiet as a cat’s; yet, the invisibility trick only worked for a few minutes. He’d have to move fast. He held his hands up, as the Viceroy had shown him. The light caught inside that hole turned and twisted, pointing him to the right direction in a faint beam. A door closed nearby and he dodged, hiding beneath a console. Luke struggled to be totally still, waiting to see who came and scanning his surrounding. When it was clear, he crawled out and took a better look. This could only be the throne room. A massive couch of black stone and metal rose in the center of the room, gleaming like dark mirrors. But, before it, rose a pedestal of dark stone. There sat the Sunstar, a jewel like a drop of giant’s blood, glittering like sunrise on dew. 

 

Mouth dry, he crept towards it, picked it up and removed his crown. His hand shook a bit as he placed it in the crown. It fit perfectly. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat the crown back on his head. Instantly, he felt the power flow through him like water. It was as if he’d opened a spigot and was being filled with strength beyond belief. This was too easy.

 

It was then, in his peripheral, he saw movement, light skating across beetle carapaces. He turned, letting his newfound strength flow from his fingertips. With a gesture that felt natural and clean to him, energy surged out in an explosion of power. A group of Pyramid Soldiers, silently advancing on him, were flung back effortlessly.

 

From the darkness, there came a laugh like distant thunder. "Well done, Emperor Steele.” Someone tall and black stepped into the meager light, clapping. “Well done. You lasted longer than I expected!” There was no denying it. This could only be the Shadow King.

 

He was terrifying. He stood a full head taller than Luke and hid his face behind a mask that was crowned with a pronged crown of black and tarnished silver that took up most of his face. Beneath it, his eyes glowed red like a hot poker. His hands were powerful and sharp-nailed like a hawk’s talons. 

 

Luke showed and, indeed, felt no fear. Why should he be afraid? He had the jewel, he had power, he could take him down easily. “Right. It's over, Shadow King, or should I say ‘Tiamonk'," Luke warned, "All I have to do is point my finger and you can go like them." 

 

“And, all I have to do,” replied the Shadow King, "is this!" 

 

Without a movement, or a thought, from the King, red lightning raced across the floor, somehow tangling around Luke’s ankles like chains. It tore him off his feet and flung him across the room to slam against the wall. He felt his back crack. The Shadow King shaped the crackling energy into a whip and snapped it at Luke’s face. 

 

“Such a disappointment. You are too weak to fight back," the Shadow King scoffed, "You are just a boring mortal. To think that, once, I savored your blood so much, I craved more for a millennia." Luke slid down the wall, onto the floor, and made a shield of energy as best he could, but, it couldn't stop the blows. The whip cut through it and lashed along the side of his head and down his chest. The glorious silken coat split and the skin beneath it cracked in sharp long welts, bleeding and stinging in the cold air. He gasped in pain and panic. Luke desperately forced a wave of magic into the ground, making the floor's tiles flip up in a bid to trip the Shadow King.

 

The King stood firm.

 

Confused, Luke hurled another wave towards the King.

 

It never reached him. It lost momentum and faded away several yards from its target.

 

Luke was like a trapped animal now, and his only instinct left was to flee. He tried to make a run for it, to scramble to his feet and dash past the Shadow King or knock him down. His legs wouldn’t respond. He felt nothing below the waist. He settled for crawling with upper body, dragging himself along. Yet, within a few yards, the floor opened up under him. He just managed to grab the edge with his hands, crying out as the limp weight of his lower half tried to pull him down and strained his shoulders and arms. Luke looked down. It was a 30 meter drop, at least.

 

"Reminds me of the first time I took this from you.” Luke was grabbed by one arm and lifted off his feet, out of the hole, to dangle before his captor. With the other hand, Tiamonk grabbed the crown by the Sunstar and ripped it free with a jerk. The crown clattered to the ground behind him. Luke grabbed him by the mask in one last chance to fight and, in the struggle, he ripped it loose, before being hurled to the ground. Laying on the floor on his broken back, he watched in horror as Tiamonk turned and revealed his true face. A huge scar went across diagonally from his chin, though his eye, and over his mask marking, leaving it most of the tattoo on the other side gone, burned away. Yet, he was human and, even after thousands of years, they resembled each other. Almond eyes, strong jaw, the lips, the shoulders. Similar, yet, refined into something sharper and more menacing. Tiamonk grabbed him by the throat, holding him up.

 

“I doubt you even remember this face,” he chortled, “You were so small when we last met. And, so… Fragile.” The amused malice in his voice chilled Luke straight through. Shackles took hold of his wrists and ankles, pulling him backwards to hang in the center of a large inverted triangle, wreathed with scarlet light. Tiamonk, with a satisfied smile, took the discarded crown from the floor.

 

Luke hurt like hell. He was bleeding from the side of his head. His lip had split and his clothing was in tatters. His back was broken, his legs were nothing but a weight at his hips, his face bruised, his body aching. The worst, most nightmarish part was seeing Tiamonk put his crown upon his head.  

 

He then took a strange black clay cup and placed it in a slot on the triangle under him. “I've waited thousands of years for this.”

 

The Shadow King waved to the gloom behind him and a chair swept into view, which he sat back in with cool satisfaction. “Now, let's begin our invasion, shall we?"

 

The room was a trap. It wasn't a citadel, it was a ship. The shadows faded, an illusion dropping to reveal a vast viewing screen and soldiers at consoles, gleaming and blinking with lights and monitors.

 

Luke felt a jolt of electricity run through his body. His arms seized and he thrashed until he felt a great tearing, crushing pain that seemed to take hold from his scalp down. Something was opening up like a doorway and he knew, with the sudden clarity of a tortured mind, that he was the hinge. He was forced out, floating apart from his battered shell of a body to watch as, on the viewing screen, a vast wormhole opened. And there was nothing he could do to stop it. The old man had been right; he wasn't ready. Why didn't he listen?

 

Luke felt tears of shock drip down his face as he was roughly pulled back to his body. He'd failed. He'd failed everyone. 

 

*

 

Nick sat in an office at the Randwick Barracks, looking at the Sergeant, who flipped through the paperwork on him as they looked at his file. 

 

So far, nothing in the man's records marked him as less than sane. 

 

The Sergeant looked up at him, from across the table, and said, "Alright then, let me get this straight. You are saying, your friend, who's in the hossie, is communicating to you from another universe that there is gonna be an alien attack on our fair country and we should arm ourselves against these pyramid-shaped spaceships because he would need the support because they have this Sunstar, that was used billions of years ago to begin civilization as we know it?" 

 

“Yep! He’s the Emperor of the Sun and I am his prophet!" He grinned with his hands folded on the table. "Might wanna write that down, in case, ya know, the PM or the Queen decided to give me some medals… Or a title… Maybe, make me king?" 

 

The Sergeant blinked at him breathlessly, before waving briskly to the guards. They grabbed Nick by the arms and escorted him straight out of the base. 

 

"THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME A PROPHET WAS REJECTED!" he yelled back, as he was carried out, "What are you going to do, nail me to two planks of wood and bury me alive? HEY! WATCH THE HAIR, JUDAS!" One of the guards had grabbed his head to duck him out of the gate.

 

He was thrown on his ass out to the pavement. Once he shook off the shock, Nick got up and shook his fist, shouting, "I'LL JUST GO TO THE 'MERICANS! THEY LOVE A GOOD WAR! What does my damn tax money pay for, you DICK HEADS!?" 

 

Overhead, the sky roared, like jet planes at top speed. He craned his neck to look up and around. Three giant red pyramids appeared in the sky, glowing like gates to hell. 

 

“Oh… Shit.” 

 

Nick took off running, headed back for the city.

 

*

 

Dolphin was allowed a few moments in the pre-op room where Luke lay after being prepped for surgery. Dolphin took his hand and kissed it as she looked at his face. They had a brace on his head and had marked where they were going to insert the drill with blue and black markers. Trying to muster up the words, she stroked his knuckles as she fought back her tears.

 

"They're going to operate on you," she told him at last, "They're going to try and wake you up. If you have to go... Then I understand and I will treasure the time we had together in my heart always. I promise, if there is no hope of you waking up, I won't let you suffer and I’ll let you go. I will give everyone a chance to say goodbye. I love you, Luke."

 

She kissed his lips for what felt like the last time. Then, all she could do was watch as he was taken away. She was alone now. Nick had disappeared, he wasn't even answering his texts. She went to watch the window into the operating theater and put her hand on the glass just as the surgeons filed in. “Please, work," she prayed.

 

As they started to position the robotic drill, Dolphin felt the glass vibrate. There was an odd, low sound, muting all others until she wondered if she’d suddenly gone deaf. That was when the lights went out.  All over the hospital, the power shut down, plunging them into darkness. It was only a heartbeat’s worth of time, but when the light returned, Luke was gone. Nothing left, but a hospital gown, and the equipment he was attached to. Dolphin felt her breath catch in her chest as the doctors looked around in bewilderment.

 

*

 

Nick had veered off of the road into the forest, hoping to hide in the trees. Not knowing what else to do, he dug out his cellphone and called Dolphin. The words fell out the second he heard the click of someone picking up. “Listen, we've got a problem. A big one!" 

 

"Nick, it’s Luke—he's gone!" 

 

“Never mind that! Get out of Sydney! Fuck, get out of the country!"

 

"What?"

 

"Just grab Solora and get away!" He hung up, then fell to his knees and tried to get hold of Luke.

 

_Luke? You there? Luke? Luke! Luke, where are you!? Luke!_

 

There was no reply. 

 

He tried to go deeper. _Luke?_  


 

It dawned on him, sickeningly, hard enough to make him rock back onto his behind. _NO! Luke! You better fuckin’ not—! No… Please…_ he cried, _Luke, don't be—!_  Cuddling into his knees, he lifted his head to the sky, tears streaming down his face.

 

_LUKE!_

 

*

 

Luke looked up, fighting the slide into unconsciousness. Nick's scream in his head was like a slap across the face. His eyes jerked open. A satellite’s view of Sydney was up on the ship's computer screens. "No, no," he shook his head, “Please! Take my life, but spare them!"

 

Tiamonk smiled and held his head up, "Already did." 

 

“If you got what you wanted, why are you here?"

 

"Human blood is a wonderful drink," he took his fingers and scraped some off of Luke's wounds, "It's iron-rich properties are needed to make more of and maintain these soldiers. These soldiers were created using the first harvest, years ago. I just needed to trick your kind into giving me their bodies and blood and I did so. Now, your planet's population has grown much more than I predicted and I can make my army bigger than ever!"

 

The Shadow King turned to a nearby soldier,  "Find me his Empress, Prophet and Heir, I want their blood first on my shrine."

 

*

 

Nick ran to his house. It was quite a distance from Randwick but, somehow, he made it. The place was close to some forgotten construction sites, so he'd gotten in for cheap. The building itself was once a restoration project, remodeling an old warehouse into condominiums. But, the project had ground to a halt and was abandoned, with only one apartment finished—his.

 

Inside, he didn’t bother turning on the lights, maneuvering by the golden cadmium light from the street, coming through the window. He went straight to the fridge, opened up a can of XXXX Gold and chugged it down, for courage. Nothing for it, he supposed. He grabbed the most important things first. He would need to survive as a refugee, wherever he washed up. He didn’t want to leave his music, either, so he grabbed his equipment, then his booze, his clothing, some more booze, food and finally, some camping supplies. He shoved them into his beat-up old ute with a big loud grunt, and pushed the back end closed.

 

The door to the house was under an awning of rusting blue tin that connected to the old stables where the horses were once kept for hauling tea and other goods from the docks nearby. It made for a shadowy, nerve-wracking scene. But there was no time to be timid. He went back in for one more thing, when, from behind him, the stable door opened with an ugly squeak of corrosion and neglect.

 

"Where have you been, Sweetie?" said a woman’s low silky voice. 

 

Lily. Blond, blue-eyed, slender Lily. The spitfire he’d fallen for and torn his hair out over for five-odd years. Demanding, sharp-tongued, cold-hearted, but oh-so-graceful, elegant, and smart. There was a time when he would had flung his arms around her and kissed her for appearing. He would have begged her to run away with him. Now, her voice made him sick. Fear had made him pragmatic.

 

She came out of the shadows, wearing a red silk dress, one that clung to the nip of her narrow waist and the swell of her hips. She was walking up to him with the same sway of the hips that had once made him drop food trays and miss cues. She was too close, nose to his Adam’s apple, fingertips on his sternum. He didn’t feel faint or wobbly, he felt absolutely nothing.

 

“Look: just—leave. I don't care anymore. I am not going to be here anymore, so just get out. Save yourself or something." He pushed himself away.

 

Yet, Lily grabbed his chin and held it to look him in the eyes. “Oh, I'm not leaving you… Prophet." She forced a kiss on him, her lips tasting strange and metallic. He struggled to get away and, with his eyes open, he watched in horror as Lily… Changed. Golden waves of gleaming hair became fire engine red. Blue eyes turned scarlet. Tattooed black spikes zigzagged up and down her pale face. Crimson armor shielded every inch of her glorious body.

 

Lily grabbed his neck with savage speed and squeezed hard, lifting. Nick tried to pry her hands free from his throat, croaking, “Look, 'm not a prophet, okay? It's just a marketing scheme we cooked up!" 

 

The Lily-monster rolled her eyes. "Shut up and die already.” She slammed him up against the wall. Somehow, she held him there, just by the throat. After a moment of flailing, he managed to kick her in her chest, knocking the wind out of her to get free.

 

Nick fell to the floor with a thud. Scrambling to his feet, he fled the building. But, as he hurried to unlock the Ute, he heard something rattle and shake the old chevron-patterned wooden doors behind him. One, two, three hits.  He dropped his keys in surprise and hurried to pick them up from under the ute. When he looked up, there was something new there. A dog, made of metal, hydraulic-jointed, with sharp, flawless fangs. Its voice was a horrific computerized growl that sounded like something from Satan's mixing board. It met Nick’s gaze with red eyes in the shape of inverted triangles, giving off a hellish light. It lunged at his hand with a paw made of blades. Startled, he jerked it away in time to avoid being cut. 

 

Gasping in shock and still reeling from being choked, he braced himself againt the door of the ute in time to see four more of these demonic creatures burst out of the stables. The first one jumped onto the roof and pawed at the steel, its foot ripping the metal with a screaming sound. The thing howled with the deafening rage of a storm and its kin advanced.

 

Nick had had enough. He bolted, looking for a place to hide on the empty, derelict-lined street. It occurred to him, out of nowhere, to go serpentine like he saw soldiers do in the movies. He started weaving in and out of the lamp posts. The quick thinking was rewarded when the leader slammed head first into the second pole. But, the others kept following, becoming agile enough to not make the first one’s mistake. 

 

He wound up looking back so often, he ran into a chain link fence at the end of the street. Desperation made him try to climb. One robot dog caught up with him and scrabbled at the back of his jeans before pouncing. The weight of the creature pulled the fence down and he fell with it. He laid there a moment with the wind knocked out of him while their jaws snapped at his limbs. 

 

Nick screamed as the fastest one grabbed hold of his shirt with its mouth and pulled the shirt from his arm, scraping the skin. It was enough to make him move again. Because, now, he might have a chance. This was the electrical substation and he was still smarter than a robot mutt.

 

He took off running under the transformers. One dog jumped up on top of the power insulators, trying to get the drop on him, and shorted the power grid, plunging the city into darkness. 

 

He grabbed a metal pole and held it out. As if they feared him, the dogs danced back, snarling. Grinning, feeling the rush of a brief victory, he swung, trying to keep them at bay. As soon as they were back far enough, he bolted down the street and the dogs gave chase. With a roar, their jaws filled with angry red light, becoming bolts of fire. They struck the asphalt at his heels, making him appear to be running fast enough to make the ground smoke.

 

“HA! _You missed!_ "

 

A thin netting of cold metal wire fell over him from what felt like nowhere. It tangled around his arms and legs, dropping him to the ground hard. It burned and shivered with electricity, feeling like a thousand taser barbs affixed to his skin. Nick fought the charges as best he could, but his body rebelled. He was kicking and shuddering, lights flashing before his eyes.

 

When it stopped, he lay there, in the dust, stunned, aching, panting, and burned. Footsteps approached him. The last thing he saw was the demonic Lily, sneering down at him. She admired the gleam of the starlight on the knuckles of her gauntlet, unconcerned by his suffering and terror. "Good night, Sweetheart!" 

 

Her fist connected with his skull and the world vanished into darkness.

 

*

 

Luke failed. He failed in his mission; he’d sought the Sunstar and lost it. He had no business fighting this monster. He wasn't a warrior, he was a musician!

 

He should have listened to the old man. He wasn't ready, he wasn’t. Why him? Why Luke Steele? Why did he even draw attention to himself? He should have just stayed behind in the Palace, lived his life there until it ended, he thought. He wanted to just succumb to his injuries and die. Weakness was beginning to claim his mind and he let it. There was no point in fighting back.

 

In his senselessness, Luke saw someone in the shadows, gently holding his face up. His own eyes gazed back, but the color was strange to him; a clear and brilliant glowing blue.

 

“Hello, Luke.” The newcomer leaned into the light and greeted him with a gentle smile. 

 

"Who… Who are you?" he asked.

 

"I was you, once."

 

"Emper…?"

 

"Shhh," he soothed as he held Luke’s head, "I can only release you from the pain for a time, but it's enough that you get some relief." 

 

True to his word, the pain faded away to nothing and Luke could feel his legs again. Though feeble, he felt relaxed and safe. Was he dreaming, or was he dead?

 

In an instant, Luke was on the same surface he’d woken up on when this whole mess started, save that it was fully constructed, gilded and jeweled. Someone who looked like Nick was meditating on a platform with the sun's light beaming in around him. The Emperor turned to a table and poured water into a clay cup painted with a sun design. The Emperor gently helped Luke drink by holding his head up.

 

"Are you my past life?" he asked as he took the water in his mouth.

 

"You could say that,” The Emperor chuckled softly. Once Luke had finished drinking, the Emperor told his story. 

 

"I was once alive. Now, I’m a hidden memory of who you were in another time and place. Perhaps, someday, you will see more of me. But, not just yet. Before you return to the world, you must know why this is happening. I will tell you all that you need to know." 

 

As he continued to speak, the Emperor cleaned Luke's wounds with a damp cloth he wrung out into a basin. There was a sadness in his voice and gaze, his heart broken for so long, he no longer knew anything but the memory of joy.

 

"Many a millennia ago, I was the Emperor of a beautiful world, charged with its care." Luke could see a vision of the palace in its glory days, curtains of billowing sheer silk and the Emperor, smiling down at his people, prosperous and happy.

 

The scene changed to a festival. Priests and people gathered in this room for a ceremony, where the Emperor was performing a spectacular ritual as what seemed to be fireworks exploded in the air.

 

"My Prophet and I took pride in the task. I had an Empress, the most beautiful woman I had ever known, both in and out, and she bore me a son I named Pnau."

 

Luke heard a child laugh as a ball bounced in. A child ran to his bedside to pick it up. He looked like Solora. The child smiled at him, before he ran back to his mother, a graceful woman in gold silk, her face hidden by a veil topped with a golden crown. 

 

Luke turned his attention up to the skylight and saw not the blue skies of daylight that he expected, but a starry night with wispy clouds like shadows. One took the shape of the Emperor and the Prophet as they worked on his some scrolls with a compass and a small telescope. Another took the shape of the Shadow King, Tiamonk. 

 

"One night, while I was tending to some star charts, we saw two meteors fall from the sky. Tiamonk, who disgused himself as the Shadow King, came and demanded my submission. He asked me to collect the blood of 20 human lives as tribute. I refused. When he turned away, he cursed us, saying that we would regret this." 

 

Luke turned his head and, again, the scene changed. Now, there was a council of men and women in the room, alarmed and all talking at once. "A few days later, I had just, with the jewel, made the rain we needed to end a drought, when it suddenly stopped. The fields started to fail and my people were afraid of starving. I tried everything, but nothing worked. Famine, plague, water shortages, people were dying. Soon after, Tiamonk made his move."

 

The Emperor was on his throne and the priests knelt before him, four beautiful women dressed as beasts. “Prophet,” he said, “I need you to send your best trackers out to find these meteors. I get the feeling this Shadow King is behind it."

 

"Phoenix, Swordfish, Ram, Wolf," the Prophet ordered, "As your Emperor commands."

 

They bowed their heads. “Yes, Your Imperial Majesty."  

 

“But, while searching, the priests were ambushed and they were brainwashed and tortured. All but one failed to fight back. The Ram remained firm in her loyalty. So, she was killed by her sisters and left for dead on the shores near the capitol. I didn't know at the time what they were plotting. My Priests became his spies, claiming to have found nothing, and then... One night, it all came crashing down." 

 

The image shifted and the room darkened. The Emperor lay in bed with the Empress and their son, when the Shadow King crept in and took the stone, slowly slipping it free of the setting. The Emperor awoke, but without the stone, he couldn't defend himself. His Empress was captured, along with his heir and he was forced to flee for his life with the one person he still had to trust in, his oldest friend. In the middle of a field, the Prophet and the Emperor were cornered by strange, dark creatures, struggling to fight back, even as a crackling electrified net overtook them. They were stripped of all powers and watched helplessly as the Shadow King destroyed all in his path, everything they’d built. Buildings were reduced to rubble, orchards and farmland blazed and man and beast died on strange altars before their eyes. Then, the Emperor was forced to kneel before him, his head placed on the altar he once used for beauty and peace. He could see, from where his head was set, the lifeless bodies of his friend, his love, and his child shrouded and laying like garbage on a cart. He looked to the ruined palace and temples one last time, then turned his attention to the Shadow King.

 

"I will return,” the Emperor swore, "I will stop you." 

 

"He didn't count on my faith.” The Emperor who tended to Luke had set the cloth aside, gazing into the distance.

 

"Your faith in what?” Luke asked.

 

"My faith that I would be reborn, that the Sunstar would return to the one destined to rule with it, and my hope that he would be stopped before he killed again." 

 

The Emperor picked up a mirror in a frame of sunstone and gold, revealing something new. The Emperor was nothing but a captive spirit, held in an otherworldly prison. Yet, he smiled with joy and relief to see a newborn Luke, held his mother's arms. 

 

The walls were beginning to crumble and weather. There was no time left for explanations, it seemed.

 

Luke panicked, feeling the pain leak back in. He was waking up. “Wait, how do I fight this guy? How can I win against someone so powerful? I don't know what I’m doing!"

 

The Emperor's voice was fading away as he spoke, even as he was vanishing. “Hope, Luke, hope is how you will win."

 

Luke sank into healing slumber, grateful for a little more time without suffering. When his eyes opened again, he was restrained by his wrists back in the throne room. But, he remembered.

 

Hope. Whatever happened, he couldn't give up hope. 


	5. The Red Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where it all goes down. Luke, Nick and Dolphin are all that stands between the Shadow King and Humanity's Survival.

As the half moon rose, small, pyramid-shaped ships, glowing red in the sky started gathering up the population of Sydney. In mobs, they were herded to the bridges and the docks with nets and transporters. Quiet, shivering fear reigned over the people with the Shadow King’s cold, iron grip.

 

The suburbs, however, seemed to be safe. Dolphin had run home and seen the beginnings of the invasion in her rearview mirror. She couldn’t sit by idly, now knowing that Luke was alive. Once home, she hurried out to the back garden. With a deep breath, she knelt down and placed a note under the tea cup.

 

  
_Dear Luke,_ it read, in Dolphin’s graceful script,

 

_My light, my love, it’s time I tell you the truth about me._

 

_When I saw you for the first time, I was who I really am. I was under the docks, watching you as your voice made my heart sing. I fell in love and wanted to be with you forever. I gave up my crown and my home, because I wanted to be at your side. I gave up a kingdom for you because I knew you was where I belonged._

 

_I pray this reaches you, some way, some how. I have taken our princess to be safe. When it's time, just ask a dolphin for me and they will send for us._

 

_Love,_

_Your Dolphin_

 

Dolphin gathered up Solora, carrying her out to the beach behind the Steele home. She turned back, gazing at the house one last time. As she did, the lights suddenly flickered out. Showtime, then. She stepped up onto a rock in the surf, holding their child by the hands and guiding her up.

 

"This is Mother's secret," she told her, "Don't ever say a word about this to anyone." 

 

Dolphin put her hands in the water. A little magic trickled from her fingers, making it bubble and glow. Lunging, she hurled herself into the ocean and, in her wake, flapped a long, pink-scaled fish tail, the rose hue of a gentle sunrise. 

 

Solora was awed by the result. “Mummy, are you Ariel?"

 

"Sort of.” She reached up and caught Solora as she hopped down. A pod of dorsal fins, gray as old battleships, were bobbing towards them. The dolphins. Her namesakes and, now, her messengers. How long had it been? Would they remember her rank?

 

"Our Queen! Our Queen!" cheered the dolphins. She sighed with relief. They still loved her after all this time. 

 

"Protect us,” she commanded them, "and gather your finest warrors, the sharks, the whales, the jellies, squid and octopus. The People of the Land must be protected at all costs! Go! Help them."

 

The sky began to glow. The red pyramids were advancing towards the neighborhood. There was no more time. “Here! Take her!" She shaped a bubble of energy that surrounded Solora, perfect, clear and impenetrable. “Stay in here, no matter what. I love you, baby, I’ll see you soon!" 

 

As she dove deeper into the water to greet her army, she saw what look like tiny bullets fired around her. Fine threads followed. It wasn't a shower of bullets. It was a net, an electroshock net. Underwater, Dolphin pulled Solora’s bubble down to her and clutched it tightly as she struggled to swim away from them. 

 

*

_Children surrounded him, dressed in feathered, beaded attire, playing, laughing, calling out to their “father". There were so many of them, from a teenager, to a crawling infant. Nick had never seen them before, but he felt certain he should know..._

_A woman, dressed in blue clothing, stood before him. She had a baby on her back who shook a toy with great enthusiasm. They kissed. It felt so right and perfect..._

_The children gazed in awe and giggled as an orb floated before them. It seemed to project an image of a flower, steadily blooming to life and displayed running animals..._

_He sat beside the Emperor at court, as a man begged for his life at their feet. The Emperor leaned to the side, tilting his head to listen as Nick whispered something..._

_The marketplace buzzed with life and activity, yet the crowds parted for him as he passed. Each merchant bowed and showed him deference, offering their wares and goods. In return, Nick would give them a blessing of a yellow dot in the center of their heads..._

 

Nick woke up, his head pounding like the intro to “Wipeout”. The room around him was dim. He wasn’t sure if he was dreaming, but he heard Dolphin trying to soothe her terrified toddler. He turned towards the sound. There she was, cuddling the sobbing, shaking child.

 

“Dolphin? Dolphin!” He tried to get to her, but something hard and unseen blocked his path, a forcefield of some kind. "Fuck!" He rubbed his nose. 

 

“Nick!” Dolphin sighed with relief, “Thank God you're okay."

 

“Dolphin, what happened?" he asked, “How did you two get in here?”  

 

"We were caught. Those things said we were this empress and she's an heir to—Something!"

 

“Yeah. And, I'm some prophet. You okay?" he asked.  

 

She nodded. He noticed then, that her t-shirt laid over her knees, soaking wet. She picked it up and put it in the water basin attached to the wall beside her, wetting it down.

 

Nick couldn't believe what he saw next. Dolphin extended her legs. Or, should have. In their place, there was a tail, pink and covered in fish scales, which she rubbed down with the water from the shirt. Nick backed away 

 

“Nick, what's going on?"

 

He sat down and shook off his shock. Clearing his mind, he tried to get a hold of Luke. Yet, there was nothing but static. "I don't know, Luke’s not responding. I don't know what's going to freak me out more today: that your husband’s gonna kill me, the fact that I was chased by cybernetic hunting dogs at the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it. Or, this…"

 

Dolphin stretched out her tail and rubbed it down with more water using the t-shirt. 

 

“…Tail." He slapped his face with both hands and sat back down on the floor. "What are we going to do?" 

 

"I don't know, but I'm not giving up.” Dolphin stroked Solora’s head and held her daughter close. 

 

“Oh, for God's sake, Dolphin, what else can we do but give up! We're trapped in here! There's nothing you can do. I can't even talk to Luke, he's either dead, or..."

 

“Nick,” Dolphin snapped, "we are not giving up!" 

 

He sighed. “Yes, ma’am.” He saluted, sarcastically.

 

“Mummy?” Solora whimpered.

 

“Shh. It’s okay, sweetie. We’ll be okay. We’ll see Daddy soon. Can you be brave just a while longer?"

 

Solora nodded and Dolphin kissed the top of her head. The child shuddered in Dolphin’s arms, but had stopped whimpering at least. 

 

Nick’s fingers found a piece of metal on the floor beside him. He absent-mindedly threw it around, tossing and catching it a few times. It bounced out of his palm after the fifth time and bounced out of his cell into Dolphin’s, through the forcefield. 

 

"Nick?"

 

"What?"

 

"I got an idea," she said as she inspected the basin, “You got a lighter?"

 

Nick pulled out his Zippo, a gift from his mother. Silver, with a little blue crystal in the center of a compass rose. “Never leave civilization without it." 

 

“Put the flame on the sensor on your basin." She paused as she heard footsteps in the corridor. “Hurry! The forcefields don’t react to inorganic matter. Maybe we can short them out if we get them wet!" 

 

Nick knelt down, feeling frantically under the lip of the basin until he found what he hoped was the sensor. He lit up and held the Zippo to it as he tried to melt the electronic bits. He soon heard a crack and a fizzle. The water level started to rise.

 

“Hang on to Mum, sproglet,” said Nick, a ray of hope gleaming in his eyes, “We’re gonna have to cheese it!"

 

The water cascaded to the floor, soaking Nick. The moment it hit the line of the forcefield, the wall came down and Dolphin breathed a sigh of relief once it struck her dry tail. Solora whined at the sudden dampness, but there was no time for scolding. Nick scooped up Mother and Child and leapt out of the final wall. That was it. They were free. 

 

Slipping and skidding on the wet metal floors, he ran as hard and as fast as he could. The sound of guards echoed behind him, drawing closer. Nick gritted his teeth and fought for another burst of speed. But, he was no athlete, not like Luke. Someone seized Dolphin and Solora, before he could scream a warning or a protest. Then, cold, smooth hands locked around his biceps painfully.

 

Nick kicked and struggled as he was dragged away. Dolphin, too, was being hauled in the other direction, but she held tight to her daughter, who howled in fearful protest.

 

*

 

The flagship of the Shadow Armada landed in Sydney Harbor. Televisons, radios and computers all over the world were hijacked, changing the broadcast to a show of the Shadow King's power. 

 

The people of Sydney were crowded to a front row seat on the bridge. The atmosphere was full of panic and fear. What was happening? Children clung to parents, couples held hands and comforted one another. Few people dared speak, but those that did had nothing but questions.

 

"Are these aliens?"

 

"What’s going to happen?"

 

"Will we die?"

 

"Are they going to kill us?"

 

"What can we do?"

 

The pyramid landed in the water and opened its bay doors, revealing the Shadow King. On his head, sat the crown, set with the Sunstar where it glowed red and sullen. Sitting in a throne of steel, he beckoned troops to bring forward a slab of black stone, cut with channels for blood. Then, Luke was brought forward, a broken-down prisoner of war. In the inverted triangle, he once again hung by his wrists and shackled ankles, even though it was futile. He could feel nothing below the waist and his legs refused to move.

 

The woman-who-was-once-Lily came up alongside her King, holding a staff in her hand. With her voice magnified through some unseen device, she announced, "People of Emtora! I am General Aries of the Pyramid Army. You are hereby under the rule of the Shadow King. Your complete obedience is required for the remainder of his rule. Those who fail to submit will be punished by death."

 

"Bring out the Emperor’s court to be sacrificed," ordered the Shadow King, “but, first, let the Prophet see you." 

 

Nick was hauled out by the arms and held where Luke could see him. Nick had a bruise along his scruffy jaw and his shirt was torn. But, from the look on his face, he looked like a new pair of shoes, compared to Luke.

 

"You alright, mate?" Nick asked. 

 

“Yeah, been worse..."

 

Nick looked away in embarrassment and saw Aries. Hate and fury filled his eyes. "YOU!" 

 

“Hello, love. How was your stay?" she asked, seductively. 

 

"Love? Me? Excuse me, bitch, no. You don't get to call me that anymore. I have had it with you and your goddamn angry, sick ways! Seriously, you're a homicidal psycho and I should have known you were an alien the moment you started to do weird ass shit with your weird ass friends! No-one goes out for a midnight jog, except drug dealers and spies. Oh, and, by the way, I hated your cheese puffs, and your little rule about no smoking in the house? Fuck you, I'm smoking my cigs again! I am tired of walking on your goddamn eggshells!  And, you know what, you have the manners and the emotional goddamn sensitivity of a dead dung beetle! You weren't even that good at a Tim-Tam slam! I am done! I am so done! I am breaking off this relationship, your mother smelled of elderberries, I hate you, goodbye!" 

 

Nick went to the altar, grabbed his own hair and slammed his head down on top of it.

 

“Alright, let's get this over with," he waved the soldiers over, "Just make sure you give her my still-beating, bleeding heart on a platter, 'cause that's how I feel." 

 

The soldiers advanced towards him, but the Shadow King held up a hand to stop them.

 

"Bring me the Emperor's wife and child. They will be sacrificed first to me!”

 

Nick was lifted away and held to the side. He struggled and kicked feebly, hanging like a rag doll from the guards’ grip. 

 

Dolphin was carried out, hugging a wailing Solora to her chest. At the sound of their cries, Luke’s struggles were renewed. Despite his efforts, the cuffs held firm. Dolphin was forced to kneel before the Shadow King. Solora was ripped from her hands and thrown to the ground to lay flat. She screamed before she wriggled free and ran back to her mother, who did her best to soothe and protect her.

 

A gasp rippled through the crowd of watching citizens when Dolphin fell to the ground.

 

Luke watched her go down, nearly wrenching his shoulders apart in his instinctual move to catch her. He wanted to cry out to her and be sure she was alright. Yet, he was dumbstruck as he realized, what he thought was a shimmering tight skirt, was a mermaid’s tail. "Dolphin?"

 

Dolphin looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I didn't want you to find out this way."

 

"I don't care,” he said, “You and Solora are safe." He angrily squirmed and twisted to get free, making the chains rattle. “You bastard! Take me, not them!"

 

The king smiled and rose from his throne. He grabbed Luke by the jaw, turning his face to meet his eyes, and sneered at him. "Tell me, Emperor Steele, what do you plan to do now? I have drained you of all your powers. There is nothing left."

 

Luke growled, "I will keep fighting. I always have. It may take a thousand lifetimes, but I will never give up!"

 

The Shadow King held his other hand up. “I’ve never truly broken you, have I, little brother?” The claws on his hand began to crackle with electricity. “There’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?"

 

The people who had been gathered there watched helplessly as the king stepped behind Luke. That wicked talon struck him across the back, scratching him deeply and shocking him straight in the spine. Once, twice, three times, four, over and over. Each time, a horrific scream of heart-rending pain ripped from Luke’s throat. The Shadow King then turned to the crowd. "Watch now as I take over your world, sacrifice more than his life, and, only when I am satisfied, will I leave." 

 

It seemed that the whole world saw him, sweat and blood dripping down his back, lips cut, and his body bruised and beaten. “Behold your savior. Look at this man: a miserable worm who dared to believe he could save you all. What a pitiful, sorry excuse for a...”

 

"SHUT UP!" Luke's pain was turning to rage and he tried again to get free. His tugging and fighting seemed endless. Finally, the Shadow King appeared to tire of his struggle and struck him in the chest, sending a jolt straight to his heart. He screamed and writhed.

 

As Luke recovered, gasping and trying to fight the pain, tears streamed down his face. Even with his eyes squeezed shut, he could hear a low chuckle, triumphant and malicious. "Take his child first!"

 

He looked up in horror, unable to believe his ears. The guards grabbed his daughter, tearing her Solora from her mother's arms. Dolphin shrieked and cried as Nick was flung from the altar top and her child carried towards it. Nick rushed to her side and held her.

 

Solora had already been crying herself hoarse, now she howled for “Mummy" and “Daddy”. Luke screamed himself, calling her name in blind panic.

 

But, then, he felt something inside him, blossoming from that place of pain. He felt as if a light had been kindled inside of him, swiftly being fanned by his love for his child and wife and friend to a small, but brilliant sun. That unearthly power rocketed up his arms and into the cuffs. The frame failed and died. He realized it had hummed with power the whole time and was now still and cooling. Hope roared to life in his heart, overtaking his sorrow, and the shackles at his wrists and ankles broke open in a burst of sparks. His legs were still numb, but he was falling close to where the executioner stood. In one smooth, single, stroke, his right hand grabbed the executioner's weapon, flinging the creature aside. His left arm seized his daughter around the waist, holding her to comfort her as he fell to his knees. His almond eyes squinted with anger and resolve. He lifted his right hand, knowing he was capable of throwing a fireball at any fool who dared approach him. Only a madman would dare to cross the Emperor.

 

“It’s okay, princess,” he hissed, “It’s me! It’s Daddy!"

 

Solora was silent. Luke felt something wet on his arm.

 

She was bleeding.

 

“Solora…?” 

 

Nothing. Not a cry, not a word. He looked down at her, slumped forwards in his embrace. Blood soaked his arm. She was hardly breathing and the sound of his voice never even stirred her.

 

Luke began to howl. The tears ran unchecked down his face. If his child wasn’t dead, she was dying. He held her close, willing her to wake. 

 

The scream had been heartbreaking before. Now, it was breaking everything else, it seemed. The pyramid soldiers collapsed, clutching their unwieldy helmets and echoing Luke’s cries as they writhed in pain. Other ships around them shrieked and groaned, metal crunching as they fell from the sky or sank beneath the waves. One of them was preparing to fire on him, to silence this strange new weapon. It exploded in eerie red flames and the resulting slag vaporized.

 

Aries and the King of Shadows doubled over at the sound. The Shadow King went for his sword, but was stopped by the pain. Briefly defeated, he crumpled to the ground beside his throne.

 

Luke saw nothing. His eyes were shut tight. He wept into Solora’s hair, inhaling her scent, riddled with the stink of blood. He shook with sorrow and anger. She would never again smile, or laugh, or run to him for a cuddle. The greatest of all his treasures was destroyed.

 

Now that the sound was muffled, Dolphin lifted her head to the sounds of screaming. The people on the bridge were safe, but horrified by the display. But, her child was bleeding in her husband’s arms and the enemy were rising again to attack. There was no time for grief. She wouldn’t lose anyone else. Not now, not ever.

 

“Nick!” she shouted, “Keep them off of Luke!"

 

Nick accepted his cue. He'd had enough; it was clobbering time. With a snarl of anger, he went full-on "Pub Brawl” mode. He dropped into a fighting stance he’d seen in a kung fu movie, beckoning with his fingers. "Come at me, ya pyramid shaped dickheads!"

 

They needed no further goading. The first one he made contact with tossed him backwards, sending him sliding down the ship’s bulkhead behind him.

 

He stood back up and smiled with grim arrogance. “That’s cute.” The Pyramid guards advanced, en masse, like a night-dark tidal wave. “Yeah, that’s right. Bring it on!"

 

One lunged at him. Nick didn’t hesitate to head-butt him hard, making the helmet ring and sending it staggering.

 

“I've,” he body-slammed one that came at his left, "Beaten up," haymaker to the right, "lesser assholes,” grabbed another’s arms and twisted them behind him, “for spilling,” slipped behind a fifth attacker and kicked him in the back, “my drink!"

 

Nick slipped a flask of whiskey from his pocket, and drained it, before falling into what looked like Drunken Monkey style kung fu. He wasn’t sure where this sudden athleticism was coming from, but he was grateful for it. He did flips, twists, and strikes that sent the fighters into a frenzy around him, trying to grab him. He kicked, slapped, then dropped and rolled around, tripping up more. One confused Pyramid must have thought his beloved Zippo was a weapon and he brandished it. Nick grinned and kicked it out of his hand, grabbing it out of the air. The fumes of alcohol on his breath were strong enough for him to light, exhaling a stream of flame at his opponents. The last Pyramid standing came at him from behind, crashing around so hard, only a dead man would have missed it. Nick just stepped slightly to his left and lifted his right fist, letting the guard smash the face of his helmet against it. He now stood ankle deep in a pile of glossy black metal, leering with half-mad triumph.

 

"YOU DON’T FUCK WITH THE PROPHET!” he bellowed.

 

Luke saw none of it. His eyes were too blurred by pain and tears, tears which dripped down his cheeks and onto Solora. He barely felt the rag-doll in his arms stir.

 

“Daddy?” 

 

The little voice was so faint, he almost missed it under the crash and roar of battle. But, it reached him. His eyes flew open and he looked down at her little face, dazed, but awake and alive. It was as much a miracle as the little flower that had bloomed in the dreamworld, just as bright and warm and just as rewarding.

 

“I’m here, Princess,” he whispered. He hugged her close and kissed her forehead. “I’m right here."

 

Dolphin struggled to get to the edge. If she could change back, maybe she could help. She halted which she realized the screaming had stopped. She turned her attention back to Luke, afraid he’d joined their baby in death. But, she felt her distress turn to hope as she realized he was hugging Solora— _and she was hugging him back._  It was all she could do to look away to see Nick wrapped up in a brawl that rivaled any football riot. And then, she caught a movement of shining red at the edge of her sight as she watched Nick go crazy. As one Pyramid soldier fell towards her, she threw her hands out and let the arm blade slice through the chains that held her wrists together. Free to move, she ripped the blade off of him in time to block a scarlet sword with it. Aries, the Red General, snarled at her and disengaged to swing again. Yet again, they locked weapons.

 

“Pity you’re so eager to fight back,” Aries purred, "I wanted to have your heart to myself."

 

“Shame it’s already spoken for,” Dolphin hissed. She slammed Aries’ arm upwards and rammed the blade into her chest. Aries, face a mask of stunned rage, vanished in a cloud of crimson smoke that filled the area. In the rising confusion, she managed to leap up with a titanic slap of her tail, like a fish on the dock. While airborne, she snatched the crown from the Shadow King and tumbled over the edge of the ship and into the water.

 

Viewers saw a light under the waves that made them seethe and boil. Within a few moments, she emerged from the water on her feet, standing tall on the nose of a whale. It lifted her back on board and sank back down.

 

Immediately, she ran to Luke’s side and placed the crown on his head. "Here," she knelt down beside him and stroked his cheek. "Is there anything we can do?" She took in the sight of him; his face, bruised and beaten, his strong arms smeared with drying blood and chapped at the wrists, clothing torn and stained, a once-mighty tower ready to collapse at any moment. His eyes were dull with pain and exhaustion. He was fighting a breakdown as he handed her their child.

 

Luke savored the touch of her warm, soft fingers and felt his broken back mending, as if her love was all he needed. “Just… Hold me," he smiled as he felt his power increasing, overcoming the damage the Shadow King had done. His spine knitted back together and he felt his legs again, curling his toes as he rested his head against her. 

 

Nick hastened to join them, gathering the shivering little Solora to him as she slithered out of Dolphin's arms to crouch beside them. One friend was hurt, another had almost been killed and their child was well and truly terrified after her brush with death. He knew exactly where he was meant to be. Slowly, surrounded by the people who probably loved her best in the world, Solora calmed. Her sobs melted to hiccups and she buried her face in her father’s shoulder, while clutching Nick’s leg.

 

 

The Shadow King turned as the smoke was clearing. His gaze fell upon the little family and he hastened to stop them, hurling a lightning bolt at them. A massive bubble of light emerged, surrounding them and absorbing the attack as if it were nothing but a raindrop.

 

Out of the light, came Luke. His true self had emerged, the Emperor of the Sun. At his side was Dolphin as his Empress, dressed in flowing blue silks and Nick, the Prophet, in his robe of white, his face tattooed with gold. Dolphin held Solora by the hand, his Heir in a miniature of Luke’s own attire. The Emperor was arrayed in long robes of white and gold, the Sunstar set back in his crown, no longer blood red, but golden, as it should have always been. Out of his hands, came the beautiful glimmering light of his will, his hope, his family's love, giving him the strength to fight. Firing back in one long stream of power, his eyes began to glow with a bright pale blue light. Dolphin held him tight with an arm around his waist, Solora held his legs and Nick held his hands. Luke could see it projecting from his fingers, a wave of fire, as if he were the anchor of a solar wind. The Shadow King held his ground, lips twisting in anger as he tried to overpower his brother with a sustained bolt of crackling energy. Luke had to focus, he had to be faster, better, stronger.

 

Luke pushed back as hard as he could.“You have no power here. This world will bow to me, so will you!"

 

Something in his voice made the Shadow King falter. It was all the opening Luke needed. He locked eyes with the King, bright blue against blood red. "Didn't you hear me the first time? I am the Emperor and YOU BOW TO ME!” He absorbed the lightning and threw it back at him. There was a blinding, deafening explosion that knocked the Shadow King off his feet. He fell backwards, surrounded by his fallen warriors, stunned by this sudden and sound defeat.

 

As vision and hearing cleared, a silhouette approached with firm steps. Luke emerged from the smoke and light, standing taller, walking with confidence. He raised his hand to fire again.

 

“Please, Emperor, I beg you,” the Shadow King hissed, his arrogance crushed by terror, “In the name of our shared blood, have mercy! Would you kill your own brother?"

 

Luke’s hand froze. His eyes grew cold, angry and impassive.  Then, slowly he leaned forward and got into the Shadow King's face. With his voice in a lethal whisper, he growled, "You get all your little soldiers, and all your little ships and all your little toys…" his voice crescendoed to a stern bellow, "AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY UNIVERSE!"

 

Luke turned his attention to his family, wrapping his arms around Dolphin’s waist. “Everyone, grab on.” Nick grabbed his shoulders, Solora clinging to his knees. He simply knew to jump...

 

And felt his feet settle on solid steel. He stood atop the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and below, Solora, Dolphin and Nick landed safely. The people of the city had begun to disperse, nervous and confused, but safe under his protection. He watched the Pyramid people leave the waters, taking off into the sky and vanishing through a portal like a great streak of darkness. Once the last ship was gone and the portal shut, he came down from the bridge and onto the lowest shell of the opera house with another mighty leap. Relief flowed though him as he met and hugged his daughter and his wife, just outside an access door.

 

"You alright?” he asked Dolphin.

 

“We’re all fine, but why did they--?"

 

"They were using me as a portal, a way to enter this world and conquer it like before."

 

As he walked to the door, he felt his knees suddenly buckle. The weariness returned and, with it, came darkness. Yet, it didn't feel like true oblivion. It felt healing, restful. He began to dream, and in his dreams, he saw the old Emperor. He was being reunited with his son, the golden-haired boy smiling up at his father until he was lifted up high and hugged tightly. His friend, the Prophet, embraced him with all the warmth of a brother and the woman he loved was seized by the waist for a deep, hungry kiss. After several moments of these greetings, they all turned and bowed to him.

 

  
_Thank you, my friend,_ said the Emperor.

 

Luke watched as they went together through a doorway full of light, to what he was sure could only be paradise.

 

*

 

Water, warm ocean water, flowing over his legs and arms. Luke opened his eyes and blinked against the sun, bright and glorious. He realized he was lying in a tide pool. The little waves lapped against his skin as he laid in the shallows. He felt his wife's hand on the top of his head as she gently poured the water over him.

 

"Was I dreaming?" he moaned softly. He wasn’t sure. He was still dressed in white robes, but no boots, no crown. Perhaps he’d died.

 

But, Dolphin smiled and shook her head. “Nope. You did it. You saved the universe."

 

Luke reached up, pulling her head down and kissing her like he'd never kissed her before. He still felt weak, but he was growing stronger again in her embrace. Once he released her, his hand brushed something. It felt sleek, yet bumpy. His wife's mermaid tail rose up beside him. The fin waved in the air, almost slapping him across the face. Oh, yes. That part hadn’t been a dream, either.

 

“Woman,” he sighed, "we need to have a talk."

 

Nick bent over the edge of the rock, upside down, and asked, “Hey, he all right?"

 

Dolphin helped Luke sit up. “Yeah, he's going to be just fine now.” She gently rubbed his chest and arms, as if to warm him against the breeze on his wet flesh.

 

Nick took the crown from where it sat on the rocks and held it triumphantly over his head. "THE EMPEROR LIVES!"

 

"Nick you're such a…" Luke saw lines of video cameras, cell phones and photographers, strung around them on the beach, maintaining a respectful, but nosy distance.

 

"Drama queen…” he finished with a groan, “Oh, shit. Subtlety, thy name is not Lord Nick Littlemore.” Luke made himself stand, refusing the help of his wife and friend. He wasn’t far from the house now. He could see Solora, hear her calling for him, overjoyed to see her daddy up and awake. Steadily, he walked towards her, past the reporters and gawkers, to lift her up and kiss her beautiful little face until she laughed.

 

In that instant, Luke vowed to protect this world--his birthright--from the Shadow King and any who dared to threaten it, to protect the innocent and the weak. He was the Emperor and this was his empire, the Empire of the Sun. Nick promised, across the link they shared, that he, Dolphin, and little Solora (when she was old enough to understand) would stand alongside him, every step of the way.

 

The world had changed. There truly was, now, an enemy at the gate.

 

*

 

Weeks later, things seemed to have calmed and returned to normal. Humanity had, for the most part, adapted to the whole bizarre ordeal and took it well. There were mutterings, on fan forums, and from the military, but they’d mostly quieted to nothing.

 

Well, the ADF was watching…and so was someone else. 

 

It was dusk as Luke and Nick sat in the studio's recording panel. Cups of coffee and tea scattered around them, with snack wrappers and sheets of discarded lyrics.

 

"It needs more bass," Luke motioned with a twirling motion with his finger. He listened as Nick turned it up more, holding his headset tight to his ear. “Yeah. That’s it. Get the people moving."

 

Nick grinned and nodded along with the beat. 

 

Against all the “do not disturb” signs, the door to the studio opened. As the men turned, in stepped a man in a tie and suit. On his lapel was pinned a beautiful blue rose, real, but most likely dyed by a ritzy florist. He was tall, well groomed, with a tidy mustache and curly brown hair slicked back. His suit was well tailored and sharply pressed. His watch looked like real gold, and his shoes were the most beautiful Italian leather. He had the sort of confident posture that marked him as being at ease with the whole universe. 

 

"Can we help you?” Nick asked, somewhat annoyed.

 

“Yes, hello. Alfred Pinchley. It’s a pleasure, gentlemen.” He had a smile that could open a thousand doors and chequebooks, and an English accent that dripped with good breeding. He handed them each his card, then opened his briefcase, taking out a contract and two ink pens. 

 

"Hi?” Luke said, slower to recover, but no less irritated.

 

He placed the contract firmly on the table. “I'm here to offer you a contract with Blue Thunder Music."

 

Luke looked away, suspecting another publicity stunt by the paparazzi. “Sorry, we already have one, and we're happy with it, thank you, please, now leave." He got up and put another disk in the CD burner. 

 

"How about another tour?" Alfred asked, “Equipment fully paid for, state-of-the-art."

 

"A tour?" asked Nick. 

 

Alfred handed him the contract to look at. "Five album deal, ten tours, and streaming events, the whole bottle and a drop, Emperor Steele."

 

"Luke Steele," Luke corrected, he turned away, trying to give a bigger hint that the conversation wouldn’t end, because it wasn’t going to start. His gaze fell on the window. He could see his reflection. He’d grown blonder, lately, as if the light inside him hadn’t yet faded. For a moment, he thought he could see that mask across his face again, white streaked with black.

 

"My apologies,” he said, though he didn’t sound all that sorry, "Mr. Steele, Mr. Littlemore, as I’m sure you’ve both noticed, there are things out there. Monsters that you have yet to encounter, and, if my husband is correct..."

 

“Wait, your husband?" asked Luke. Blue Thunder Music. He knew that name.

 

"Yes,” Alfred grinned briefly, "my husband, and, if he is correct, these creatures are after the jewel you possess. You will need training and protection, as well as education. An education that only we can provide."

 

Luke instinctively held the jewel defensively in his hands as he looked back out the studio window. His thoughts fell to that day and the promise to protect his people from those who would abuse this power. Luke and Nick made a vow to each other, the next evening, if one were to become corrupted, they would kill the other. It wasn’t something they liked to think about. And, who was this man really? Did he really want to help? Or was he just looking for a way to make the jewel’s power work for him?

 

Nick stood up and got in Alfred's face. “Listen, mate, an education in what? What we already faced? Those things are gone! They'll never come back."

 

"They *will* come back," said a new voice. It was the same accent, but silvery and rich, with a deep purr to it. “They're just taking their time." 

 

A clear ball rolled across the floor and landed at Nick's feet. He picked it up, finding it was crystal, flawlessly round and warm to the touch. Strangely, it felt familiar to him. He looked inside and saw himself looking back. Yet, the image had him in a long brown coat decorated with zippers. The other Nick smiled at him as if saying _hello_ with so much joy, never thinking he would ever see him again. Then, with great ceremony, he bowed his head, holding his hands together in prayer.

 

In shock, Nick dropped it. It jumped back into his hands. He could manipulate it, he found, moving it to stay up and roll as he turned his hand over. Curious and delighted, he made it balance on the tips of his fingers with ease. When he moved them away, it floated as if it weighed no more than a soap bubble. 

 

"What is this?" Nick breathed, as awed as a child in the presence of real magic. 

 

The same voice spoke again. "This was found in a cavern in Teotihuacan, Mexico. It belongs to you… Prophet."

 

Nick was in disbelief. Yet, the image of himself smiled and nodded, as if to say,  _it's okay_.

 

“And you need to know what you really face, what I have known my whole life."

 

They turned, to find someone new there, stepping up to the mixing board in the shadows. The silhouette was crowned with wild hair and had pointed, foxy features that seemed to be familiar.

 

Luke felt his heart beat harder. "I know that voice,” he said, turning to face the newcomer fully, "You're Aviral Ain." 

 

It was then the figure stepped into the light, showing himself in the window's reflection. It was a beautiful man with long black hair and eyes of the most incredible deep blue. Aviral Ain was a bigger performer, he had sold out stadiums and venues in mere seconds. His husband, Alfred, was one of the best music managers and producers in the business. They both owned Blue Thunder, a company that, besides music production, had developed the most advanced music equipment and were heavily involved in the entertainment business since the 60s. But why them? Why them, now? 

 

And, how did Aviral get in here without him hearing him walk in?

 

Luke sensed something different about Aviral. His blue eyes were more radiant. With agonizing laziness, two shapes appeared at his shoulders. Rising up from his back, were huge butterfly like wings of blue. The veins gleamed golden and pulsed with power. They finished their arrival wide and tall, if they were a dire warning, standing in front of the painted lush greenery.

 

"You need to know what is really in the shadows and lurking in the darkness."

 

Luke turned around and Nick eyes were wide, almost terrified. Alfred stood beside them, smiling slightly. They couldn't believe what they were seeing as Aviral sat himself down gracefully on the sofa, flapping his wings a little, as if to stretch them, as if this was nothing new. 

 

"By the way," Aviral smiled, sitting back, "love the crown."


End file.
